I mentioned last week to a friend that I am the inventor of the peanut butter and tuna fish sandwich.
This bit of culinary brilliance was born of necessity.
As a kid, my mother occasionally served us tuna fish sandwiches for lunch. Rightfully despising mayonnaise more than almost any other food product on the planet, my sandwiches consisted of tuna on white bread.
Nothing more.
Lacking any binding agent, the tuna in my sandwich would simply fall out whenever I lifted it off the plate, making it difficult and annoying to eat.
One day, as my mother was making our lunch, I saw a can of tuna fish sitting beside a jar of peanut butter, and I had an inspiration. I took a dollop of peanut butter and popped it into the microwave for a few seconds, just long enough to soften it a bit, then I mixed it with tuna fish before placing it on my bread.
The peanut butter and tuna fish sandwich was born.
And it was good.
The typical reaction when I mention this sandwich is disgust, which annoys me for two reasons:
- People have told me I should like more food, try more foods, and give more food a chance. Yet when I suggest that they might find this sandwich tasty, people refuse to even consider the possibility.
- People eat raw fish on a regular basis. Bull testicles. Olive loaf. Jello salad. Chitlins. Many of these foods probably seemed disgusting to you at some point (and some might still sound disgusting), but they are all regularly eaten in this country. You’re almost certainly eating food today that you once thought would be awful. Is a peanut butter and tuna fish sandwich really all that different?
For the record, I’ve served friends peanut butter and tuna fish. Years ago, I designed and operated a race for my friends, modeled after the television show The Amazing Race. Teams of two raced around town, completing tasks and taking on challenges. It was great fun and even better when Elysha became involved after the first year.
Each one of my races had a theme. One year, the theme was me:
Tasks and challenges related to my life. One of my tasks was to eat a peanut butter and tuna fish sandwich. At least two people participating in that race admitted to liking the sandwich, and I have served it to several others since then.
As far as I know, at least two people still eat peanut butter and tuna fish sandwiches regularly.
I’m not saying you will like peanut butter and tuna fish sandwiches. I merely suggesting that you have an open mind about the thing. If you’re willing to try raw squid or partake in ice cream that tastes like leftover cereal milk or pretend that green bean casserole is little more than a Trojan horse for Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup, maybe you could give my creation a chance.
Or at least not mock it until you’ve tried it.
And let me know what you think.
That friend to whom I mentioned the sandwich decided to Google “peanut butter and tuna fish sandwich” to see if others are eating it. Under Google’s “People Also Ask” links was one for “Is peanut butter and tuna good?”
The answer and its source was me.
She was amused.
Invent a sandwich, and you will become known for that sandwich. If there are any Wikipedia editors out there, perhaps it could be added to my Wikipedia page.
