For Ben Gollan, getting to know New York means eating its sandwiches. The Australian-born guide, who has reviewed sandwiches across the city for nine years as A Man and His Sandwich, leads a two-hour tour that traces the city’s diversity through its food—and asks guests to consider what counts as a sandwich in the first place.

The East Village outing begins at Via Della Scrofa, a small, family-owned Italian shop. Guests try a porchetta panini, while one vegetarian option pairs grilled eggplant and sun-dried tomatoes with arugula and buffalo mozzarella in a traditional Roman roll. Gollan says places like this help make New York what it is.

The next stop, Nishaan, puts a Pakistani spin on the bodega chopped cheese. Its version features chopped chapli kebab cooked with peppers and onions, then topped with cilantro sauce and tamarind chutney. Gollan orders an Impossible Meat variation for a vegetarian guest. The restaurant began as a Smorgasburg pop-up and later won season 18 of The Great Food Truck Race.

At Sunny and Annie’s, a neighborhood shop open around the clock since 1997, the group samples pho-inspired sandwiches wrapped in spinach tortillas. The store’s menu lists 92 handheld options, including combinations named after celebrities and politicians. With crowds gathering for the Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade, the group takes its food to nearby bar ABC Beer Co.

The tour’s stops illustrate Gollan’s view that there is no single New York sandwich, though he suggests the chopped cheese may come closest. The discussion turns to whether foods such as hot dogs, quesadillas and burritos qualify. Gollan shares his own suggested criteria—a carbohydrate, an intention to make a sandwich and separately cooked ingredients—then promptly tells the group to disregard them.

A Man and His Sandwich offers tours through its website and Airbnb. The outings run every day except Tuesday and Wednesday, and typically include three sandwich tastings before ending at a bar. Gollan also leads tours in Williamsburg, in addition to the East Village.

Sources: Condé Nast Traveler.