Call it the sandwich that launched a hundred headlines. Earlier this week, Sean Charles Dunn allegedly threw a sandwich at a Customs and Border Protection officer near 14th and U Street NW. Video footage shows Dunn calling the officers “fascists” and yelling “Shame! Shame! Shame!” prior to the purported flinging.
Though he’s being lauded for his act of dissent, Dunn did not build this protest sandwich from scratch. There’s a lengthy history (one could even call it footlong) of protestors throwing food to voice dissent—just go back to 1773, when people showed their disdain for the British by tossing crates of tea into the Boston Harbor. Hungry for more? Here’s a brief timeline of hurling comestibles for a cause over the last century or so.
Early 1900s
America’s 27th president William Howard Taft was the victim of Brassica-based violence when someone attempted to peg him with a cabbage during a campaign stop. Seemingly unperturbed by the flying vegetable, Taft threw back a clever response: “I see that one of my opponents has lost its head.”
2003
In an act that would have made the Three Stooges proud, former presidential hopeful Ralph Nader received a pie to the face while endorsing a Green Party candidate in San Francisco. In a video clip from the event, Nader launches the pie back in response as he peers out from a visage of white pastry.
2018
Throwing food can even be used to protest protests. According to the Washington Post, Trump advisor Stephen Miller was confronted by a bartender after picking up an $80 sushi order at a spot near his CityCenterDC apartment. After grabbing the takeout, Miller claims the bartender emerged from the restaurant and threw the bird with both hands while cursing him out. Concerned his food had been potentially messed with, Miller tossed (still counts!) the takeout in the trash.
2021
Sometimes, it’s not even about actual food being thrown, but rather the mere thought. In 2016, Trump told rally attendees, “If you see someone getting ready to throw a tomato, just knock the crap out of them would you.” Trump was later asked about his words during an October 2021 deposition, sparking a brief but inane back-and-forth about a tomato’s status as a fruit. Luckily, an attorney put that to rest by noting the presence of seeds. The deposition revealed Trump’s nightmares weren’t occupied by just flying tomatoes, but also the whole fruit bowl, specifically pineapples, which he mentions twice. “It’s dangerous stuff.”
2023
Climate activists did some painting of their own in the National Gallery of Art, smearing the display of Edgar Degas’s Little Dancer with red and black paint in April 2023. While their deed did not include food, it was inspired by similar food-based protests at museums around the world: two works by Vincent van Gogh were slapped with soup at the National Gallery in London, mashed potatoes were the projectile of choice for a Monet in Germany, and protestors fed the Mona Lisa soup at the Louvre.
2025
And that brings us to Dunn, this week’s Hero Hero. The sandwich was airborne on Sunday night, and the fallout has been as swift as a meat slicer cutting through a hunk of Boar’s Head ham. Dunn was charged Wednesday in federal court with a felony, and attorney General Pam Bondi announced the Department of Justice employee has been fired. Allegedly, Dunn owned up to the act after his arrest, uttering words that will live in infamy: “I did it. I threw a sandwich.”
Daniella Byck joined Washingtonian in 2022. She was previously with Outside Magazine and lives in Takoma.
