In a move of true culinary democracy, a new sanwich recipe will be decided by the students and for the students.

Erbert and Gerbert’s (E&G) Bistro in the Maucker Union is holding a contest for students to create the official UNI sandwich, unique to the university.

“They thought it would be a good idea to give campuses the opportunity to create their own sandwiches so they can have their campus sandwich that is just unique to that school,” said Joel Sires, manager of the E&G Bistro in Maucker Union.

According to Sires, the E&G corporation proposed the idea to them a year ago. They decided to accept it and move forward with creating the sandwich.

Last year, students had the opportunity to submit ideas for what they thought the sandwich should be called. The name was chosen before the sandwich was created. It will be called “Campy Neil,” after the Campanile clock tower, a landmark of the UNI campus.

Students can go online to the E&G Bistro website and create what they think the sandwich should be through an interactive process.

“It’s like going down the [sandwich] line,” Sires said. “You actually get to see it get built almost like it would if we were making it for you.”

Students can build a virtual sandwich by picking the bread, meat, cheese, veggies and sauces they want and can see what it looks like as it’s built.

The submission deadline for students is this Friday, March 3.

After all of the submissions for possible sandwiches are in, the E&G corporation will pick the top 20 sandwich recipes in April. After they choose their favorite 20, it is then up to the staff at the E&G Bistro in Maucker Union to choose their top three sandwiches.

“We’re going to portion out 200 samples of each, and then students will help choose which one gets made into the ‘Campy Neil,’” Sires explained.

Students will then be able to taste each sandwich and vote, so that the ultimate decision will be up to the students.

The E&G Bistro has been a UNI mainstay in Maucker Union since June of 2015. Some students have expressed excitement at the notion of having a E&G sandwich made specifically for the UNI community.

“I think it’s an interesting concept and it would be cool have a sandwich named after UNI,” said Audrey Skoog, a junior English teaching major.

“I think it’s a cool idea!” said Meredith Miller, a junior public relations major. “I’ve enjoyed having E&G on campus and since it’s the first one in Iowa, having a sandwich named the ‘Campy Neil’ would be neat.”

Students interested in submitting their own “Campy Neil” sandwich recipe can go online to egbistro.com/uni-cedarfalls/ to enter their submission.