It was John Montagu, Britain’s 4th Earl of Sandwich, born in 1718, who gave his name to the world’s ubiquitous food fare: the “sandwich.” But it is Owen Han, born in Milan in 1998 and raised in Florida, who was recently anointed the “King of Sandwiches” by zealots of social media platforms.
Han, a self-proclaimed professional eater, culinary content producer, and newly ordained fanatic food celebrity, created sandwich videos that have drawn thousands of viewers and millions of followers: more than 4 million on TikTok, in excess of 2 million on Instagram, and close to 800,000 dedicated YouTube fans. The 27-year-old influencer draws his inspiration for recipes from his Chinese Italian heritage in conjunction with tireless research on what hungry people around the world crave most often. And Han has just written his first cookbook, STACKED: The Art of the Perfect Sandwich.
It all began in 2021 in the kitchen of his studio apartment in Venice, a lively beach neighborhood of Los Angeles. One day, he spontaneously decided to post himself making and eating his lunch. His daily noon meal and ultimate comfort food — a sandwich — was the obvious choice. His grilled chicken, bacon, smashed avocado, and chipotle mayo scrunched between two slabs of sourdough bread hit the internet. The video captured the attention of a million viewers. What followed in the foodie world was a meteoric rise in interest related to sammies, grinders, and subs. Opting to strike while his baguette was hot, Han’s next post was a steak sandwich. It broke over 10 million salivating spectators. Today, his stratospheric creation appears with Han — teeth poised in mid-chomp — on the cover of his recently released cookbook.
Han’s predilection for streaming his new creations was buoyed by his unfettered notion that a sandwich is a reliable, worldwide consumable food source, and this “a-ha!” moment was proven correct. His Chicken Tikka Wrap reached 16.6 million on TikTok; Open-Face Ham and Cheese, 24 million; Beef Shawarma Wrapped in Lafa, 52.3 million. The result: followers bestowed on him the affable moniker “sandwich guy.” Since becoming a self-described sandwich influencer, he estimates he has created almost a thousand kinds of sandwiches with unlimited others on the way.
Through his Italian and Chinese heritage, rummaging through social media for compelling ideas, and researching what hungry people around the world crave, Han finds inventive concepts for the ingredients in his formidable fusion sandwiches.
As a young boy, Han passed his summers with his grandmother (Nonna), in a tiny village in the mountains of Tuscany, spending hours in her kitchen, watching and enjoying the traditional Italian meals she prepared. Noting his penchant for working in the kitchen with her, she enrolled him in a cooking class at a local restaurant. As he grew and developed a growing interest in exploring different foods, he traveled throughout Italy, sampling each region’s traditional cuisines.
His Chinese patrimony was from his father, Derek Han, who was born in Ohio to Shanghainese immigrants. Derek met his Italian wife, Elena De Lalla, while she worked as a flight attendant on the New York-to-Milan route, which he often flew due to occupational necessity. Derek Han, who died of COVID-19 in 2021, was a former concert pianist and co-founder of the La Musica Chamber Music Festival in Sarasota. Because his wife did not cook often, Derek Han became adept at making both Italian and Chinese dishes for the family, as he also frequently recreated platters of food from his mother’s well-worn cookbook. Their home was a center of gatherings for relatives, friends, and guests, and Owen Han was immersed in a world of cuisines and flavors cooked by his father.
These early Italian and Chinese meal experiences resulted in the young Han’s growing contemplations of a food-related career. But the path to his current occupation was not linear. He graduated with an economics degree from the University of Southern California, a private research university in Los Angeles. It was his Korean American college roommate, posting content videos to TikTok, who urged him to follow suit. Han’s experiments began during the pandemic. Among his first posts to go viral was a shrimp toast concoction, a 30-second clip based on a recipe from his grandmother Nai Nai’s cookbook. It was a traditional Cantonese appetizer that Han topped with a spicy Korean gochujang mayonnaise. Within two hours, it received over 250,000 views: an efficacious omen.
Han quickly determined to become a full-time content producer, rapidly inventing other short, quick-cut, non-speaking videos where he assembled and then devoured his creations online. Initially, they were fashioned for his own amusement, sharing what he enjoyed doing. “I didn’t think I’d be able to make a living at it,” he noted at the time. But the steak sandwich phenomenon was a game changer. “That’s when I decided to make sandwiches be my thing … full time.”
He became known for his creative twists on classic sandwiches, such as Ciao Chow — a combination of Italian “ciao” and Chinese “chow” — and a Dan Dan Bolognese — dan dan noodles incorporated with rigatoni. He also produced dessert sandwiches, including a Brie and Strawberry-Ginger Jam Grilled Cheese, and a Chimichurri-Vanilla Pudding. For those inclined to seek more familiar flavors, he included recipes employing his own style of tacos, burgers, burritos, and wraps.
Now that his book STACKED has hit the shelves, Han is looking forward to expanding his work, producing longer-format videos, whether for YouTube or television, “to show more of my personality, show more of what I can cook besides sandwiches.”
Culinary influencers like Han have broadened the palates of fans, rapidly expanding the once-constrained notion of what constitutes, for example, Asian, African, or Western cuisines, as well as food in general. Throughout the world, a growing number of well-known executive chefs have made their names through the synthesis of multicultural offerings. In the U.S., chefs Rachel Yang, Jess Thomson, Ming Tsai, J. Kenji López -Alt, Cecily Wong, Dylan Thuras, Li Ming Lee, Brandon Jew, Alvin Cailan, David Chang, Ivan Orkin, Chris Yang, Kat Lieu, Cheuk Kwan, and Frankie Gaw are just a few of the many who have made their names as “new order” influencers. Han is one of the most recent.
A foody fusion of global proportions has been on the rise for decades. The next time you travel in-country or abroad, stop by any place where sustenance is on tap: a fine dining restaurant, café, buffet, fast-food establishment, diner, truck stop, pub, bistro, pop-up, pizzeria, family-style eatery, stand, bakery, ghost restaurant, greasy spoon, vending machine — amalgamated blends have ushered in a heterogeneity of international comestibles for an increasingly culturally diverse, responsive, and amenable audience. Han may be one of the newly discovered trendsetters, but he won’t be the last.
