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| Channel | Publish Date | Thumbnail & View Count | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|
 Today I Found Out | 2017-10-20 16:52:47 |  252,530 Views |
The Surprisingly Short History of the Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich
Every day countless peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are made as kids get ready for school. And while that’s not surprising it got me wondering: who invented the peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Growing up my dad made our school lunches. He’s good at a lot of things that my dad is good at but cooking/meal prep was/is not one of them. This is a man who if asked what the best meals he makes are will probably name one of three things: toast and cereal or Eggo waffles.
He’s added a few things to his repertoire over the years but when it came to packing our lunches he stuck to the basics: a piece of fruit a bag of chips a Hostess treat (my go-to was the cupcake) and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or two. Nothing fancy. Nothing complicated. That said he did make a killer PB&J. In fact it’s one of the rare things he made better than my mom. I don’t know what it was about peanut butter and jelly that threw her for a curve but she always seemed to have trouble with the right proportions. I digress.
In many ways peanut butter and jelly is the perfect lunch food for kids. First it’s cheap. A child’s tastes are probably not that refined so there’s probably no need to spend a ton of money on fresh-cut sirloin steak. Second it’s tender. Little kids don’t want to struggle when they eat it. Third it can be eaten at room temperature. If you pack a lunch at 7 a.m. and leave it in a backpack or locker until noon cold cuts and cheese can get pretty dicey over the course of five hours. And fourth it’s easy. It takes so little time and effort to make and as a parent time and effort are precious resources that I’d like to save. Finally it’s appealing. The combination of sweet and salty meets a child’s (or my) basic needs.
