Peanut Butter and Jelly

I'm fascinated by the history of food. I'd love to read a book that explains how humans came up with some of the foods we enjoy every day. Certainly some go back to pre-history; I'm sure a great deal of trial and error went into distinguishing between mushrooms and toadstools. But who even thought mushrooms would be edible? They don't look it. Who was the first guy to open a clam and eat it raw? It tastes great, but looks like phlegm.

I was just eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and was looking at the combination of the two ingredients (aside from the bread) and wondered who first put these two things together? It's like those old Reese's Peanut Butter Cup commercials, about how chocolate and peanut butter got together. Who is responsible for this American staple? (It is estimated that kids will eat 1,500 of these things before they graduate high school).

So I went straight to Wikipedia. It turns out that peanut butter was invented by a Canadian, Marcellus Gilmore Edison, in 1884 (contrary to popular belief, George Washington Carver did not invent peanut butter). It was teamed with many different foods, including pimento, cheese, and celery (the first two don't sound good, the last is great, especially if you're on a diet). I've tried peanut butter and pickles, which isn't bad, but my disdain for bananas has kept me away from Elvis' favorite.

A Good Housekeeping article suggested spreading peanut butter on bread (in those days, people ground it themselves) but no one gets credit for the brilliant idea of putting jelly, preferably grape, on the sandwich as well. We can credit Arnold Palmer for combing iced tea and lemonade, but no such person is known for PBJ.

I haven't eaten PBJ much since I was an adult, and I wonder why. When I take a sandwich to work it's usually meat and cheese, or rarely tuna salad. But PBJ is much cheaper, as you can get probably fifty sandwiches out of a small jar of peanut butter. The jelly is pricier, but bread is cheap. And it's damn good! Peanut butter has protein, and while the jelly isn't that healthy, it's better than some other options.

When I was a kid I went through phases. My mother made my lunch until I was a senior in high school (bless her), and it always consisted of a sandwich, some kind of chip, and a dessert. I bought a carton of milk in the cafeteria, which I remember costing three cents. For a while I ate a lot of bologna (but no cheese--I didn't find out I liked cheese until my twenties). I know I went through an egg salad phase, which probably gave me a lot of gas. I don't remember if I had a lot of PBJ back then, but I'm sure I had my share.

National Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich day was on April 2nd. I'm sorry I missed it, but I made up for it tonight.