Adam Weinstein
English 101-099
9 December 2007
Essay 1- Food Narrative
Nutty Cuisine Results in High Cholesterol
When I was younger, probably around the age four or five, I got sick and had to go to the doctor. I was sitting on the cold table, when the nurses decided to stick a big needle into my vein and draw a sample of blood. The results showed that my cholesterol was high for my age. My parents and the doctor discussed my eating habits. They explained to him that I was an extremely fussy eater. I never wanted to eat a big juicy hamburger, green salad, or fresh fruit. There was only one food choice that I wanted: a good ole’ peanut butter sandwich on wheat bread with absolutely no jelly. That is all I ever wanted to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The doctor suggested to my parents that they cut peanut butter out of my diet. But how does a person stop eating his or her favorite comfort food?
I am not sure why peanut butter was my desired thing to eat. Maybe it was the peanut taste or the smooth and creamy texture. Maybe I liked the fact that when I would take a big bite out of a thick peanut butter sandwich it clogged my throat and the only way to wash it down is with a large glass of cold milk. Another reason that I might have liked peanut butter sandwiches so much was the fact that my mom made them a lot because they were quick, easy, and cheap. Plus, you can make many different food dishes with the use of peanut butter.
My mom would always try to be creative when making my peanut butter sandwiches. When I would go on field trips in elementary school, she would make me a special peanut butter sandwich. She would add miniature marshmallows to the creamy Jif Peanut Butter and wheat bread. When I would take a big bite into the sandwich, I would taste a sweet and fluffy surprise. I know that all the kids were jealous of my delicious sandwich. Then the nights that my mom did not feel like cooking a big fancy meal, we would have melted peanut butter sandwich night. This was my brother’s and my favorite meal when we were younger. She would add more creamy peanut butter onto the bread and stick the sandwiches in the broiler until the peanut butter looked gooey and melted and the bread toasted a golden brown. There is nothing better than biting into crunchy wheat bread, coated with warm melted peanut butter. The peanut butter would run down our faces and all over our fingers. My favorite part about eating this sandwich was licking the sticky peanut butter off my fingers and plate. My brother and I would always eat this before our soccer or baseball games so we would get plenty of protein. We would call them our “good luck” sandwiches. My mom still to this day makes our “good luck” sandwiches and my brother and I still love to eat them. Without peanut butter, these delicious sandwiches and family tradition foods would not have happened. I believe that peanut butter was the best thing invented.
Peanut butter goes a long way back. A large amount of people helped make peanut butter to be one of America’s beloved foods. It started back in 1890. A man from St. Louis, named George A. Bayle, Junior, was on a mission to help people who had bad teeth and could not eat meat. They needed some kind of food item to give them their daily servings of protein. This is where he got the brilliant idea of grinding peanuts in a meat grinder, which made a thick gritty peanut butter. He put the gritty paste in barrels and sold them to his patients. Peanut butter use to be made from steamed peanuts instead of roasted peanuts and it was not appetizing to the taste buds. Peanut butter also did not have a very long expiration date because it was stored in big wooden barrels. In 1922, Joseph L. Rosefield churned peanut butter like butter to make a smooth and creamy texture. This process increased the shelf life of peanut butter. Peter Pan achieved the success of having the longest shelf life in the market in 1928. Skippy Peanut Butter was next in joining the competition by inventing crunchy peanut butter. Finally, a company named Proctor and Gamble created Jif in 1958. Today, Proctor and Gamble run the “world’s largest peanut butter plant” making 250,000 jars of peanut butter a day (History).
What would the world possibly be like if Mr. Bayle had not pulverized peanuts in the meat grinder so long ago? So many things in our world would be different. Would the King of Rock and Roll have had a weakness for jelly and banana sandwiches? What would choosy mothers have chosen if there was no Jif? Would we ever find out if you got chocolate in my peanut butter or I got peanut butter in your chocolate? Worst of all, what would I have eaten for my “good luck” sandwiches. What would have been my comfort food? I cannot imagine my life without peanut butter. Every time I eat anything with peanut butter on it always brings back good memories from my past. Therefore, you can see I was never able to follow the doctor’s orders and give up peanut butter. There could be worse things than a little high cholesterol.
Works Cited
"History of Peanut Butter." Peanut Butter Lovers. Peanut Advisory Board. 2 Sept. 2007
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