Darkness Visible in ReadyMade Magazine's "Vietnamese Sandwich"

A decade or so back, ReadyMade Magazine was a breath of fresh air -- Popular Mechanics + the poor man's Dwell was a good idea. It didn't take long for them to realize that the consumer ethos is more compelling to advertisers than the original DIY ethos, and readers have been writing in to complain ever since.* (Our trial sub expired years ago, but it just keeps showing up, like Wayne's girlfriend.)
However, things look, grim, about as grim as if ReadyMade had pulled a graveside nutty at Vibe's funeral, and was all like "it should have been me!" Witness this gem from a picnic makeover article from Jul/August -- a "Vietnamese Sandwich":
4 baguettes or sandwich rolls (!)
Marinated tofu or chicken
Marinated carrots
Butter
Sliced jalapeno (optional)
Sliced red onion (optional)
Cilantro
The marinade for the carrots? White vinegar, sugar, and salt. The chicken/tofu marinade at least includes fish sauce, but overall, it's a receipt that shows a degree of indifference to what actually goes into an actual Bahn Mi that bespeaks a very deep depression. At best, it's an echo of the faux ethnic receipts of the 1950s, where a slug of soy sauce rendered meatloaf magically Chinese.  (For the record,  2-3 different Viet cold cuts, a livery pate, mayo, shredded carrots, onion, cilantro, hot peppers, sirracha, in various proportions, not much meat for the classic Bahn Mi -- there are variations.) But the essence of the Bahn Mi is confronting sandwich meats that you would not eat solo on a dare, which in this combo, become delicious. See John Thorne's Bahn Mi & me, for the definitive essay to date on the US career of these relics of French imperialism.
*It's as if people still  turned up for Jonathan Richman shows to tell him to knock of that "I'm a little airplane"shit, and play "Roadrunner." (Oh, wait, that's me.) Play them off, Modern Lovers: