Panini. The word defines a food trend whose popularity seems endless and one of the favorite fast food options among New Yorkers. But what exactly is an authentic Italian panino? You have to cut through ancient mists to locate its origins. The Romans were the first to cook up a simple street side meal called panis ac perna, bread with wort and cooked ham in dried fig water. Leonardo Da Vinci, one of the greatest minds of all times, invented something similar: “I thought of taking a piece of bread and putting it between two slices of meat. But how can I call this dish?” The answer came two centuries later with Lord Sandwich, the British Earl so obsessed with card playing he wouldn’t even pause to eat! So he pulled a rapid solution out of his sleeve, creating his version of a panino and naming it after himself.
