Sandwich with a side of gambling chips

As every “Jeopardy” contestant knows, the sandwich was invented during a 24-hour gambling binge, when John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, demanded something he could eat without having to put his cards down. The idea spread like wildfire in 1762.

Lord Sandwich actually wasn’t the first to wrap meat in bread; people had been doing that for centuries.

So how did the idea end up with his name on it?

Here’s how. In his journal that same year, historian Edward Gibbon described a fashionable London gathering as “a sight truly English. Twenty or thirty of the first men in the kingdom supping on a bit of cold meat, or a Sandwich.”

That was the thing. Rich people who could easily be sitting down to a roast with all the trimmings were eating cold meat on toast. Because of Sandwich -- clearly a gambling addict in need of an intervention -- it wasn’t a nameless snack anymore; it was a fashion.

Traditionally, casinos have catered to big-budget diners. In 1898, high rollers playing baccarat at Monte Carlo could dine on lobster soup, chicken souffle imperiale and pate de foie gras.

But we live in the country of the common man. Las Vegas’ claim to food fame is the bargain-priced all-you-can-eat buffet, and the chief dish American gamblers have bequeathed to the world is the Caesar salad, which they discovered in the 1920s when they went down to Tijuana to play the ponies (and drink -- it was Prohibition).

Still, in this foodie age, gambling snacks are sneaking upscale -- thanks to that American invention, the TV tray.