For as long as I’ve known my husband Jon (and that’s a pretty long time), he has been a devotee of the peanut butter and jam sandwich. He eats them toasted for breakfast, untoasted at night, and sometimes on a single folded-over piece of bread when he’s on the go. It is the staple food of his diet. He is really lucky that he went to school in the age when peanut products were allowed in lunchboxes, is all I can say.
There is a mythology surrounding the humble PB & J in my husband’s family. It was the first food item that Jon could prepare himself, and when he was a preschooler he would get up in the morning and make himself one. It was also his father’s specialty, and Jon remembers childhood weekends when his mother would go to work and his dad made him peanut butter sandwiches. With butter on them, to boot. Apparently the butter was very good, and Jon says this is why he loves peanut butter and jam so much today.
Jon has a method to his sandwiches which differs from mine. I have a heavy hand with the peanut butter, and a really heavy hand with the jam. I like sweet stuff, and I find that having lots of jam keeps the sandwich from adhering to the roof of your mouth as much. Jon, on the other hand, has a lighter hand with the peanut butter, and puts on only the slightest hint of jam. I suppose that I can’t judge his jam skimpiness, as it seems to be working for him, but the result is that neither of us has ever made a PB and J for the other. Because, you know, we would do it wrong.
Being set in your peanut butter ways is understandable. There’s a certain truth that you always prefer your mother’s cooking. We form many of our tastes in childhood, and any deviation will never be quite right. In Jon’s case I think he prefers his dad’s peanut butter creations. And he’s passed that on – our 4-year-old Hannah tells me, “Dad makes fabulous peanut butter and jam sandwiches!” I will always be the peanut butter also-ran in our household.
13-month-old Jacob is also a huge fan of peanut butter and jam. He squeals when he sees me take the peanut butter jar out of the fridge. He mooches pieces of sandwich off anyone with the audacity to eat one in his presence. He smears peanut butter in his hair and laughs with glee. As it turns out, he is his father’s son. And he has the peanut butter breath to prove it. 
Jacob eating a peanut butter and jam ‘sand’-wich in Bamfield
What about you? What’s the official food of your family?
yummy, economical, relaively good for the bod
I remember my older brother Mark coming home from highschool when I was about 4 years old. He would plop me up on the kitchen counter and make each of us a sandwich. Pb&J..on a single piece of bread and folded over. The jam would most likely squish out on my shirt. We capped it off with a glass of milk. This is one of my fondest childhood memories and the reason why I plop my children on the counter and make them the same thing.
I *love* PB&J! I almost never eat it anymore, but lately I’ve been giving my son PB and Banana sandwiches and he’s hooked. Next step – introducing the J. Like you, having enough jam on there to keep the PB From sticking is a plus – is this a woman thing perhaps?
I think our official family food is spaghetti, though. My husband makes it and we all love his sauce, including the little one. Matt does like to overdo it, though. The first time he made me spaghetti – at some point while we were dating – he pulled out an 8 cup serving bowl for his personal serving. He proceeded to pile pasta in the bowl almost to the top and then spread a bit of sauce on top. He seems to go for a 4:1 pasta to sauce ratio. I prefer it to be more even. I remember telling him he’d regret eating that much pasta; he disagreed. I said it would expand in his stomach. He didn’t listen.
It took hours after dinner for his belly to stop aching and the sad thing is that he has done that at least two times since. Let this be a lesson to everyone not to wait until you’re starving to eat!
I love peanut butter and blackberry jam sandwiches… so tasty, best toasted.
But my biggest weakness is a creation my grandmother introduced me to in toddlerhood… peanut butter and pickle sandwiches. I know, sounds scary, but they are amazing! It could be worse – she used to make my dad peanut butter and mayo sandwiches, which he still eats to this day. *shudder*
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I am so thankful for peanut butter as it is something healthy that Victoria will willingly eat
Personally however, I hate peanut butter. The smell, the taste…makes me a little ill. The only way I eat anything “peanut butter-like” is Reese peanut butter cups (which probably is nothing close to REAL peanut butter
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When I was pregnant, I ate pb & j sandwiches nearly 6 out of 7 days for lunch. It was ridiculous, but I love(d)them. That is one of many memories I will hold dear of my 1st pregnancy.
I can’t get enough peanut butter: grunch, peanut butter balls covered with milk chocolate, peanut butter fudge, and the list goes on. Wow…I sound like I really enjoy sweet foods!
I do love peanut butter and jam sandwiches, although I don’t eat them often because to be perfect, in my opinion, they require soft white nutritionless bread. Peanut butter and banana sandwiches with bananas of an ideal ripeness? I would take those OVER chocolate. My p.b. weirdness is that I love it, but when I’m not eating it I hate the smell of it.
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I tried to make peanut butter our official food, to no avail. I’m still trying to find an offical no-fuss food that require no cooking and minimal dish washing.
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Ok, this feels like a safe place to admit that I have a pb&j sandwich for lunch every day! My daughter prefers pb & honey. I don’t know what we’ll do when she starts going to nut-free schools!
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PB&J is the official food of my four year old who has eaten it for lunch almost daily since he’s been old enough to ask! I have to admit, peanut butter on toast almost always sounds good to me!
This is awesome! Totally made me smile. And “Ahhh, sweet stuff! Me like too.” Me missing it right now!
Hm. I don’t think we have an official family food. And I notice that when families do, its usually because the husband makes it. What’s that about?
This being said, I wish my kids liked PB. I love it!
Oh! Nachos! There’s one. My mom made them as a bedtime snack for us and I love making them for my kids too. So does Mike. There you go!
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>>the result is that neither of us has ever made a PB and J for the other. Because, you know, we would do it wrong.
LOL! We are also PBJ fans.
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My daughter is a huge PB sandwich fan. She’s been eating one (sometimes two) of these sandwiches for breakfast every day for the past 2 years
Being from Lynn, MA, I’m a big fan of the (occasional) fluffernutter. But we usually enjoy the old pb with bananas or honey (The Fluff only comes out when it’s been one of those days;-)
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