By George Stahl
The peanut butter and jelly sandwich consist of peanut butter and a fruit preserve. Strawberry is a favorite. It can be made in a couple of different ways, depending on the maker and how hungry he or she is. One way is to take a single slice of bread and smear a hearty helping of peanut butter on it, followed by a smear of jelly, about half the volume of the peanut butter. Then simply fold the single slice over to create a sandwich, and allow the gooey middle stuff to flow out of the sides and ends of the folded over sandwich, Congratulations then! You have just made a PB&J. Well, half of one anyway. To make a full sandwich, simply bring in another slice of bread and make the newly introduced slice feel more at ease by pairing them up with a freshly spread batch of peasant butter and jelly. Now, you have two PB&J’s. How complicated things have suddenly become. Don’t worry, you will simply eat the first one you made now, and later, after you realize you are still hungry, you will devour the second sandwich.
It has been that simple for nearly 123 years. In 1901, a mom no doubt, decided to combine a fruit jelly with peanut butter and bang! The children, and adults of America were eating PB&J’s like no buddy’s business. Things were going quite good for the next 20 years. That is when it became undeniable that this sandwich was destined for greatness in the culinary world. The Chillicothe Baking Company introduced ‘machine sliced’ bread to America! Mothers all over the country were ready to put up their bread pans and run to the grocery store for a package of this revolutionary freshly baked and perfectly sliced loaf of delight. Upon bringing them into her kitchen she masterfully taught her children the art of building a magnificently crafted peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Children all across America were now able to feed themselves and were on the verge of becoming self-sufficient. Not needing their mother to drop everything she might be doing and make lunch. Now, they could simply go to the counter in the kitchen, open the bread box, take out the packaged loaf of pre-sliced bread, open a jar of peanut butter, and a close by jar of fruit preserves. By reaching into the utensil drawer and extracting a butter knife they could proceed to create the lunch menu of their choosing. Namely a self-crafted, masterpiece of a PB&J! All thanks to the ingenuity of a progressive and forward thinking, out of work jeweler, named Otto Rohweddar from Iowa working as a bakery employee in Missouri in 1928. Just like that, life just got uncomplicated for millions of mothers in the United States.
A small thing? Maybe to us now, but a huge leap into the future for America 96 years ago. When it began the PB&J was simple. It was a three step, three ingredient process to make a meal for yourself. It was an easy, inexpensive way to feed yourself and your family. By the time the Great Depression of 1929 hit, families were surviving on groceries like peanut butter, jelly and sliced bread. For many, the sandwich was breakfast lunch and dinner, and there were no snacks in between. The country needed heroes. Baseball, illegal booze, and PB&Js were the backbone of a country suffering and clawing for survival.
School lunch from home was a PB&J and a container of milk if you could get it. Kids were even heard trading their lunches for another kids PB&J. It beat a slice of bread with sugar on it and a banana. Until, another stroke of genius pulled out of the necessity for invention, and a kid asked another kid to trade his PB&J for a banana, and the kid with the sandwich said no, but I’ll trade my milk for your banana. The banana kid agreed and the exchange was made, and so was history. The PB&J kid sliced the banana to share with his friends, and he took his share of the slices and put them in his sandwich. A PB&J…&B was born! Peanut butter and banana sandwiches were served along side the PB&J. The menu had expanded.
The kid with the sugar bread added a banana, and some peanut butter, and a variation was created. Before long, all three of these culinary delights were being enjoyed by people of all classes throughout the country. As a result, people got to know one another. People who otherwise maybe not would have associated with each other. But they were all drawn together for their love of a simple sandwich and proved that if we uncomplicate our lives and get down to the PB&Js of things, we can do a lot for and with one another. In just 34 days it will be ‘National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day’. So, if we have a day to honor this sandwich, there might be something special in its simple ingredients after all. Ya think?
