A sandwich is a food item typically consisting of two pieces of leavened bread between which are laid one or more layers of meat, vegetable, cheese, jam, together with optional or traditionally provided condiments, sauces, and other accompaniments. The bread can be used as is, lightly buttered, or covered in a flavoured oil to enhance flavour and texture.

Sandwiches are commonly carried to work or school in lunchboxes or brown paper bags (in sandwich bags) to be eaten as the midday meal, taken on picnics, hiking trips, or other outings. In some parts of the world, they are also served in many restaurants as entrées, and are sometimes eaten at home, either as a quick meal or as part of a larger meal. As part of a full meal sandwiches are traditionally accompanied with such side dishes as a serving of soup (soup-and-sandwich), a salad (salad-and-sandwich), chips/french fries, crisps/potato chips and a pickle or coleslaw. A new trend appearing is making sandwiches into wraps, in which a tortilla is substituted for the bread.