Andy Warhol's Dessert Sandwich Is As Chaotic As The Artist Was Himself

The name Andy Warhol probably calls to mind images of Campbell's soup cans. And for good reason — his love affair with this food is legendary, but it's not the only food his memory is associated with. The artist, who helped drive the pop art movement of the 1960s, is known for creating art that is as chaotic as it is iconic. And that chaos was an extension of his personality, certainly at least as far as his diet was concerned. Warhol ate very little in order to maintain a slim figure, reportedly avoided meat, and famously preferred fruit and sweets over any other type of food, even going so far as to create a dessert sandwich that involved a creative way to include his favorite food.

When you think of a delicious sandwich, you probably imagine something like a tasty pastrami with French dip, but Warhol's unique creation was anything but the average sandwich. His dessert concoction consisted of two slices of bread with a layer of chocolate candy smashed in between. The meal was something Warhol liked to call "cake," and it suited his oddball diet perfectly.

His style of eating, which he famously coined the Andy Warhol New York City Diet, also consisted of ordering large plates of food at restaurants that he wouldn't actually eat. He ordered them just to have something on his plate while others ate. He would then take that plate to go and leave it on the street for someone who was in need of a good meal.

Andy Warhol's cake sandwich creation isn't exactly a vintage recipe in need of a comeback. It falls more into the category of job security for dentists, but it certainly does shine light on the creativity that food allows us and the emphasis Warhol placed on food in his artwork and lifestyle. It not only made him stand out from the crowd but made him a celebrity in his own right whose reputation continues to captivate people today. 

Warhol, whose brilliant career involved work in film production, used many different styles for his artwork, like displays of cardboard Kellogg's Corn Flake boxes. He also had an affinity for silkscreen, a technique he used frequently to mass-produce images, like his famous Campbell's soup cans series, along with images of various celebrities, such as Marilyn Monroe, which created chaotic, yet eye-catching, images of real-life people and things. 

The artist's diet preferences and artistic style reflected a life that was quite colorful, to say the least. He experienced fame that led to an almost cult-like following, one that resulted in his being shot by a follower at an infamous party at his New York studio, the Factory. This incident affected his long-term health, and along with an unhealthy gallbladder that was discovered during surgery to have gangrene, he passed away shortly after in 1987. But his legacy lives on, both in his artwork and quirky dishes like a chocolate, candy, and white bread dessert sandwich.