If you were to ask people in Cape Town what the most authentic local speciality is, most would probably say Gatsby. It's a long one, baguette-like, narrow white loaf stuffed with a sausage-like cold cuts, possibly masala steak, in cuttlefishwith or chicken meatwith a side of fried potato piri-piri or tomato sauce, cheese, eggs and salad. Two-handed sandwich, if you are very hungry you should only start alone, otherwise it is usually halved or quartered.
The name of the sandwich dates back to 1976. Four white men walked into Rashaad Pandy's shop and asked to eat. As was the birth of pizza in those days, the man suddenly grabbed what he could find on the counter, a loaf of bread, some leftover potatoes, cold cuts... He heated everything up, added some pickles, plus whatever else he could find on the spur of the moment and served it up. The whites tasted it, and one of them exclaimed, "Dude, this is really good, just like Gatsby!
He was probably thinking of the even more famous film based on the famous novel, but we don't know that now, only that the name stuck. Pandy, being a good businessman, put it on sale the next day, with the change that instead of a round loaf he filled an oblong wagon with all the good stuff, and lo and behold, there were buyers. The rest is history...
Pandy Rashaad is still behind the counter today, selling around 250-300 Gatsbys a day. The squid version is also selling well, but the original, Sausages(the cheapest, by the way) is the absolute winner.
(source: bbc.com)
