The Great PB&J Debate
Sometimes there's nothing like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, even for us owls. But sometimes, deciding how to make one, for you humans, can get to be a sticky situation. Which side of The Great PB&J Debate are you on?
How do you feel about peanut butter and jelly sandwiches? I love them and have been eating them my entire life, but only recently was I informed that I make them “wrong.”
However, one should consider the source of this pronouncement: my spouse who just an hour earlier returned home crazed with grocery store rage because the Cool Whip had been relocated with “no advance notice” after 15 years. “Who’s going to look for it near the pizza and pies?” ranted the man I often refer to as Husband No. 1.
I stopped listening. My concerns these days tend more toward world peace and how to get the yard work done, but I did want to explain why no one should give too much credence to the PB&J opinion of a man who thinks the grocery store should post a sign near the entrance that says “Cool Whip Moved to Aisle 14,” which he really did say, by the way.
In any case, Husband No. 1 then informed me after more than three decades of marriage that he could not believe I was so wrong when it came to sandwich-making because I begin by layering on the peanut butter. In his opinion, the jelly should go on first AND on the bottom of the sandwich to optimize the encounter with your taste buds so you bite into the sweetness first.
Say what? First of all, I never analyzed how I make the sandwich beyond my preferences for the varieties that go into it (natural peanut butter and jellies that involve berries) so I had to stop and think about it: How do I construct a PB&J and which layer ends up on top when it enters my mouth? I was more alarmed that I’d never noticed that my spouse makes his sandwiches in a different order than I do. Was this a sign of marriage trouble?
As it happened, my parents were present during this heated PB&J discussion and of course, agreed with me. So then we wondered, was it a Kansas thing? (We tend to blame all of Husband No. 1’s oddities on being from a different region of the country. It's easier that way.)
I took the question to the Internet. I typed “how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich” into my search engine and up popped several sites with elementary instructions. Some even had videos. Guess which ingredient they said all said should go on first? Yep, the peanut butter.
But surprisingly there were no instructions on which piece of bread should be placed on top or how to put the sandwich in your mouth.
So I’m turning to the HooplaHa readers to settle the argument: when the PB&J sandwich meets your taste buds, should the peanut butter -- or the jelly-- be on top and, even more important, does it matter?