While many have debated back and forth over whether or not a hotdog is a sandwich, there was never one conclusive decision on its true standing. Personally, I always believed that hotdogs were a form of sandwich, but that was until I learned about the Cube Rule of classifying foods.
The Cube Rule is a means of classifying food into groups based on how many sides of a cube the food has starches on. An important note with this system of food is that whether or not you agree with the specific groups made through this classification, it still allows for a classification of foods that has no exceptions or uncertain rules, which is something that has been missing until this point.
There are 6 main classifications of food, and they are as follows:
- Toast: When there are starches on only one side of the food, or the food itself is entirely starch. For example, things like pizza, bread, and muffins are all types of “Toast”.
- Sandwich: When the starches are on two opposite sides of the food, and the starches are broken down into two distinct pieces, like slices of bread. For example, things like a ham and cheese sandwich or a quesadilla consisting of two tortillas would be considered a sandwich.
- Taco: When there are starches on three sides of the food item, making a “U” shape or a “C” shape, the food falls into the category of a taco. For example, a sub sandwich and a hotdog both fall into the category of a taco.
- Sushi: When the starches are on four sides of the object, in the shape of a circle. A good example of sushi would be pigs in a blanket or a burrito with neither side being closed off.
- Quiche: When there are starches on five sides of the food item, making the starches form the shape of a cup. A good example of a quiche would be a bread bowl or a cheesecake.
- Calzone: When the food has starches on all six sides. In order for it to be a calzone instead of a toast, there must be a non-starch food filling inside. For example, a corn dog, a dumpling, and a pop-tart are all examples of a calzone.
Those are the simple food categories, however there are actually three more that make up the rest of the foods that do not fall under the categories mentioned above. These categories are:
- Salad: A food that either has no starches, or has no definable sides. For example, a steak is a salad due to the fact that it contains no starches, while a serving of mashed potatoes is a salad due to the fact that there are no definable sides of it.
- Cake: A food that functions as a sandwich, but has an additional layer between the two outside layers of starches. For example, a big mac is a good example of a cake.
- Nachos: Best described as bits of starches covered, surrounded, or submerged in non-starches. Some examples would be cereal, or a salad with croutons.
Now you may be thinking “Oh wow this is so stupid, who would ever use this?”, and while that may be a valid question, the Cube Rule has actually been used in the Maryland court system, proposed as a solution to the state’s conundrum of classifying foods in a legal sense.
All in all, the Cube Rule is a way of classifying foods used to annoy friends and family, while also being one of the few truly consistent ways of sorting food into categories.
