With all the shelves clearing out at the grocery stores, it's a great time to reflect on nostalgic comfort foods that can't be found anywhere. Along with toilet paper and hand sanitizer, foods that have long shelf lives are running short on stock, such as PB. Thank god my grandparents sent me two jars of PB in a care package a couple days ago!
I was convinced I must not like peanut butter anymore after I tried the chalky version my host mom stumbled upon in the store one day. Then, my aunt sent me Jif PB, and I rediscovered my appreciation for PB. If I'm being honest, It's probably all the salt, sugar and oil they put in that makes the American version so good.
America
A classic childhood favorite, who didn't grow up with PB&Js in their lunch boxes almost everyday
In the past, companies tried to capitalize on parents’ desire to buy foods their children would enjoy eating. Jif’s slogan during the baby-boomer generation was “Choosy mothers choose Jif”
It's growing popularity in twentieth century reflected changing family structures, as parents were forced to spend more hours outside of the house and needed meals that were quick, as well as the evolution of the food market towards mass production methods
Has more recently reflected the 'farm to table' movement by expanding its product range to include organic options and butters made from any type of nut you can name
Can be used with practically anything: pancakes, bananas, bread, pretzels, cookies, shakes or just be the spoonful if you're feeling daring enough
Italy
What's peanut butter? Who knows, but if you search long enough you can find one brand in select stores called Calve (spoiler alert: it tastes like shit)
Italians react adversely to the idea of something as fatty as PB. They are confused as to how it's made, or why you would put something that is already sweet with something even sweeter (jelly). Yet, they eat Nutella for breakfast almost everyday