Adam Weinstein
English 101-099
06 September 2007
Essay 1- Food Narrative
Nutty Cuisine Results in High Cholesterol
My parents told me a story about this one time when I was younger, probably around the age four or five; I got really sick and went to the doctor. I was sitting on the cold table when the nurses decided to check my cholesterol. It was apparently high for a four year old girl. The doctor asked my mom what my eating habits were, and my mom told him that they were okay except that I was going through a stage of only wanting to eat peanut butter sandwiches. I was an extremely picky eater when I was younger; I would not even eat pizza. I never wanted to eat big juicy hamburgers, chicken nuggets, or the frozen fish sticks. I always wanted a good old fashioned peanut butter sandwich. I guess I thought a peanut butter sandwich was better than any other lunch or dinner choice. Well to finish the story, years later, I found out that peanut butter is cholesterol free. My parents told me that the doctor said no more peanut butter so I might try to eat the juicy hamburger or frozen fish sticks. But was I wrong at the age of four? Just imagine the smooth creamy nutty taste when eating a delicious peanut butter sandwich. My sandwich has always consisted of two slices of wheat bread and loads of peanut butter. Please note that I did not say jelly because I hate jelly on my sandwiches; jelly just ruins it for me. Anyways, back to imagining eating this thick peanut butter sandwich on wheat bread and after trying to swallow this big bite it gets stuck going down your throat. So what do you need; a large glass of cold milk to wash it down. Does that not sound delicious? It does to me. Peanut butter is my comfort food. Not ice cream, potato chips, or chocolate, just peanut butter. I prefer Jif Creamy Peanut Butter or as I explained it when I was four, the jar with the red top and the red, blue, and green label. I can eat crunchy or extra crunchy but creamy just seems to be a thousand times better to my taste buds. I believe that peanut butter was the best thing ever invented.
Since I mentioned the word invented, I must tell a few cool thing about how peanut butter came about. There were a large number of people who helped bring peanut butter to be one of America’s best foods. It started back in 1890, a man from St. Louis, named George A. Bayle Jr., was on a mission to help people who had bad teeth and could not eat meat (History). They needed some kind of food item to give them their daily servings of protein (History). This is where he got the brilliant idea of grinding peanuts in a meat grinder which mad a chunky, gritty, peanut butter (History). He put the gritty paste in barrels and would sell them to his patients (History). Peanut butter back then was made from steamed peanuts instead of roasted peanuts and the peanut butter was not very good, and it did not have a very long expiration date because of being stored in big wooden barrels (History). In 19 . A man experimented with peanuts at Tuskeegee Institute in Alabama and came up with many other ideas on how to use this fabulous legume (History). St. Louis had the first street vendor to actually sell peanut butter to the public, in 1904 (History). Then, eventually, peanut butter had a longer shelf life because a smart man named Joseph L. Rosefield churned peanut butter like butter to make a smooth and creamy texture (History). Peter Pan came along, in 1928, fulfilling the success of having the longest shelf life in the market (History). Then, Skippy came about and invented the crunchy peanut butter (History). Finally, a company named Proctor and Gamble created Jif, in 1958 (History). Proctor and Gamble operates 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 grinded those little peanuts in the meat grinder?
Speaking of inventing or creating, my mom created the best peanut butter sandwich in the world. Come to think of it, she had two great ways of serving a classic peanut butter sandwich when I was a kid. My mom would make a killer peanut butter and marshmallow sandwich. When I would bite into the sandwich I would taste a sweet and fluffy surprise. I know that my mom did not invent this kind of sandwich now, but back then I thought she was brilliant. She would take a handful of miniature marshmallows and sprinkle them on top of the peanut butter. I loved the real marshmallows rather than having the fluffernutter goo. Plus, fluffernutter was kind of expensive then. I would only get this sandwich when I would go on elementary school field trips. It would be my special and tasty treat. When my mom did not feel like cooking we would have melted peanut butter night. This was my brother’s and my favorite meal when we were younger. All she would do is put more peanut butter then usual on our sandwiches and then would place the sandwiches in the broiler for about five minutes. There is nothing better then biting into crunchy bread coated with warm melted peanut butter. The peanut butter would run down our faces and all over our fingers. The best part was licking all the peanut butter off my fingers and off the plate. We 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. Every time I eat anything with peanut butter on it I always think of memories in the past. I guess that explains why it is my comfort food.
I think peanut butter is plain and simple. You can eat it with almost anything. You can eat it on a sandwich, with celery, apples, Ritz crackers, saltine crackers, gram crackers, animal crackers, ice cream, popcorn, Oreos, bananas, and the list goes on. Peanut butter is also a pretty safe food unless you are allergic to peanuts or happen to buy the once in a life time bad jar that they recall because the peanuts are raw. I though you could eat raw peanut but maybe not. You cannot go wrong with it unless you burn your peanut butter cookies. People have to be brave and try to eat peanut butter on different things. But peanut butter is different for everybody. People do not like peanut butter on bread but they will eat it with crackers. Some people are terrified to dip an Oreo or popcorn in peanut butter. Not me of course. I think peanut butter as a condiment. It tastes good on everything. Plus, peanut butter is a good fat and oil for the body if eaten in the right quantities. I just feel sorry for those who are highly allergic to my comfort food and one of America’s favorite and original foods because they are sure missing out on a delicious treat.
Works Cited
2 Sept. 2007 <http://www.peanutbutterlovers.com/history/index.html>.
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