Keith Brown never thought that a ham and tomato sandwich would become his daily bread.
But the simple act of preparing his daily snack turned the retired British engineer into the world’s most unlikely internet phenomenon.
Although it may not be considered the most appetising food in other countries, its popularity skyrocketed in China thanks to the work of a British pensioner known as ‘Old Dry Keith’, who sadly passed away.
Mr Brown, a retired petroleum engineer, shot to fame two years ago after his wife posted a video online of her attempting to make the classic British ham and tomato sandwich.
Although a simple sandwich might seem like the last thing that would make someone famous, ‘Old Dry Keith’ became a hit among millions of Chinese fans, who sympathized with his plight of having to prepare the snack with substandard ingredients.
Keith Brown, a retired petroleum engineer, found online fame two years ago on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.
Mr Brown shot to fame two years ago after his wife uploaded a video online of him making the classic British ham and tomato sandwich.
As a result, users of Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, were heartbroken after Keith’s wife ‘Jane’ Zhang Jian announced that he had passed away after being diagnosed with bone cancer this summer.
She began posting the videos when the couple, who met in Malaysia in 2007, returned to Britain following Brown’s retirement.
Zhang, 49, originally from northeast China, was new to Britain and won an audience who identified with her struggle to adapt to life in the UK.
Due to its large size, there are strong regional differences in China, particularly regarding the availability of Western food products.
While internationally renowned sandwich shops like Subway are common in Beijing and Shanghai, Western food can be difficult to find in other parts of the country.
However, after Keith’s videos began to become successful, some supermarkets in middle-class urban areas began selling ‘Old Drys’.
Chinese writer Zhou Zhiruo, who discussed the topic with accompanying images of Paddington Bear, Harry Potter characters and Dame Maggie Smith. They all ate sandwiches and observed, “Aren’t we all like Old Dry Keith?”
After Brown failed to find avocados to accompany his smoked salmon, Zhou wrote: ‘We watched him struggle to cut two slices of dry bread, as hard as weapons-grade steel, cut a few thin yellow streaks from a block of hardened butter that had not yet fully thawed, and then place two slices of previously smoked salmon on top.
Screenshots from his wife’s Douyin account show Keith struggling to spread butter on two slices of whole wheat bread while making a sandwich.
He is then seen layering smoked salmon and avocado, ingredients that are hard to find in many parts of China.
‘This sight is enough to make ordinary people think of the lunch they just hastily swallowed and feel empathy and sadness.
“He’s like all those of us who have to pay our credit card bill but haven’t received our salary, or who have to go to a meeting but find that the battery on our cell phone is at 10 percent. He bravely faces all of life’s blows.”
Keith had two adult children from his first marriage and a teenage son with Zhang.
After her husband’s death, Zhang said: The times that she would stay in the UK for the time being, while her son was still at school, before deciding whether to return to China.
“I was quite surprised by how popular Keith became in China,” he said.
“It’s not that I didn’t expect people to like it, but I wasn’t prepared for how it would turn out.”