Listen to this:
https://www.stabroeknews.com/images/2025/07/Bread-Two-July-6-2025.mp3
You might want to say that it’s a sandwich. You may even walk into a corner shop or snackette and call for a fish cake cutter. If you do, you are likely to be met with a blank stare. The look might be so intense that you may falter. Suddenly feeling unsure, you hear yourself softly saying, Ahem… I want a salt bread with the fish cakes inside… your voice going up at the end as if asking a question. The stern expression on the face of the person behind the counter changes, and he bursts into joyous laughter: “You want a Bread-and-Two!”
My people. My Caribbean people. We West Indians. I have said it time and again. We call it like it is! Bread equals salt bread. Two in this case are two fish cakes. Hence a Bread-and-Two. See, we don’t complicate things.
Barbados’ sandwiches are called cutters. No one knows why they are called cutters. I believe it’s a practical name because the bread rolls, also known as salt bread, are halved (cut) crossways and stuffed with cheese, ham, fried chicken livers, fried gizzards, fried fish, and yes, fish cakes (salt fish fritters). Depending on the sandwich, its name is based on the filling. If it’s ham, it’s a ham cutter; cheese, cheese cutter; liver, liver cutter. This nomenclature suggests a cut salt bread stuffed with fish cakes should be called a fish cake cutter. Right? Wrong. It’s Bread-and-Two. Could it be because the sandwich is made with two and not one fish cake?
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