I love cucumber sandwiches, as I’ve stated before, but I do have a couple small gripes with them. The first is the daintiness and the second is that, in their original carnation, they were intended as a polite snack; whereas, I’d like to re-fit them slightly for lunchtime consumption.

My first attempt at un-civilizing the cucumber sandwich was a tangy blend of cream cheese, green onions, cucumbers, and spices smushed between an everything bagel. This was in the Spring time when running along the Charles didn’t feel quite so much like crossing the River Styx into Hades, temperatures were cooler, and appetites more robust.

Ever since my dear friend, and super hostess, CS, served cucumber sandwiches at a summer party, I have been simultaneously obsessed with and repulsed by them. In spirit, their crustlessness makes them all daintiness, pinky-finger-up, civilized-to-the-point-of-oppression madness. In taste and texture, they are velvety smooth and crisp – all refreshment and succor.

Thus, I decided to ‘un-civilize’ my cucumber sandwiches, and make them something that those of us who live in the urban jungle could truly feast on.