Ok, my tongue is somewhat in my cheek here, but putting a plain vegetable that is mainly water and is valued more for crunch and texture than taste + plain white bread… It’s the very recipe for bland on bland. I don’t get cucumber sandwiches.
You asked for simplicity and traditional, but the only time I’ve been surprised by cucumber when it’s not dressed up with a strong dressing is when I was in Tokyo and was served a sliced cucumber with a tiny sprinkle of msg on top. It was a road side oden hawker and definitely the smaller Taiwanese/Persian like variety. I have to admit it was pretty good.
