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Someone on another forum I visit posted that it was National Peanut Butter day. To which someone replied:
Most Brits don't eat the stuff. My DH gags at the sight of it. Talk to a Brit about PBJ and they ralph.
Is that true?:confused:
I can't answer your question for you, Tiam, but I do know peanut butter in our house is almighty! http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTS6OjgE0mVX0UFjV4qVHQqe9_MBhsNK 99Pu3wB7FvegiCggasXwg
Miss Cellane
3-4-12, 3:09pm
I don't know about the British, but my Turkish sister-in-law loves peanut butter. She'd never had any until she came to the States. Now, when SIL and my brother are stationed overseas, I have to send them peanut butter. And Reeses peanut butter cups. And peanut butter cookies. And I also have to send holiday packages of peanut butter to her parents, because she introduced them to peanut butter.
There are times I cannot wait for DB to get stationed back in the US again.
Awww... you're a great family member, Miss Cellane! Mom to everyone. The way it should be.
IshbelRobertson
3-4-12, 5:45pm
Yes. I GAG at the smell!
My children, however, liked it, but only the smooth variety and only spread thinly (had to be thinly!) on toast - not on sandwiches and DEFINITELY not with jam (aka jelly!)
Peanut butter is a staple in our Idaho USA home! I like Adams smooth, then I grind up a bunch of peanuts in my food processor and mix them together. I like lots of nuts! DH likes Skippy's chunky (I think that's the name) -- but it's not the same. All the peanut butter candies are wonderful too. But I don't buy them or eat them ... :-(
Blackdog Lin
3-4-12, 8:16pm
Ishbel: what a sad cultural plight, that you Europeans cannot appreciate a delicacy like peanut butter. :)
I didn't even really realize that it wasn't a worldwide staple food item. "Says the decadent self-satisfied over-fed American". :)
Makes me wonder: what common food items do you enjoy Ishbel, that might make my American palate gag over?
I don't know about the British, but my Turkish sister-in-law loves peanut butter. She'd never had any until she came to the States. Now, when SIL and my brother are stationed overseas, I have to send them peanut butter. And Reeses peanut butter cups. And peanut butter cookies. And I also have to send holiday packages of peanut butter to her parents, because she introduced them to peanut butter.
There are times I cannot wait for DB to get stationed back in the US again.
Great post!
Yes. I GAG at the smell!
My children, however, liked it, but only the smooth variety and only spread thinly (had to be thinly!) on toast - not on sandwiches and DEFINITELY not with jam (aka jelly!)
Personally, I prefer it with honey. Over the years, jam with peanut butter just doesn't work for me. I won't even eat a pbj. It's got to be honey. On the other hand, I've never learned to like such variations as peanut butter and bacon sandwiches that I've seen in very old cookbooks.
IshbelRobertson
3-5-12, 5:12am
Blackdog Lin
As far as I know, peanut butter has been available here since the 60s... it's just such an overpowering smell... and that CLAGGY feeling on the roof of the mouth? Nope, not a taste I'll ever acquire, I'm afraid. Anyway, most British kids prefer (and have eaten for yonks!), nutella! Personally, I hate that substance, too.
BTW, I've always known about PB, simply because ever since I was a child I've often lived in expat communities with lots of Americans/Canadians.
Well, foods that other nations may find odd? Hmmmm, I'm a marmite lover. It's a love or hate thing, no half-measures. Haggis, too is an acquired taste, not acquired by even other British nationalities. Personally, I love it.
Years ago (around 1992) in my London, UK office, I handed out slices of peanut butter and honey sandwiches to the rest of the crew. They were mostly British, with a few Irish. I recall about 1/3 strongly disliked, 1/3 liked and 1/3 thought it was good enough to eat once but only once.
I have ALWAYS HATED peanut butter. One time when I was young, my aunt took me on a picnic with my cousins, and she had brought peanut butter and jelly on rye bread and she was the type of mom who made you eat everything on your plate. Over 50 years later, I'm still talking about it, so that's how traumatic that experience was. At that time, I also could not eat any sort of nuts or anything with nuts in it. I am not a picky eater otherwise--I'll eat anything pretty much.
When I became mostly vegetarian, interestingly, I developed a taste for nuts (isn't it amazing how the body works??) But I still cannot eat peanut butter, at all.
If it's a British thing, maybe it's a DNA thing with me, as my bloodlines are British going back a few generations.
I admit I like it a lot--especially in protein smoothies, with sweetened coconut milk and chili paste over vegetable or noodles, or in sweets. Or off a spoon.
chanterelle
3-5-12, 5:52pm
I can't take the smell of jarred peanut butter either. In fact, I have an an odd reaction to eating any type of peanut product. 12 to 24 hours later I get very irritable, agitated and, sometimes, downright mean. The more I have eaten, the longer it takes to wear off before I become my usual sweet self again!
I have always wondered if this could be the cause of so many children's behavior problems, as peanuts, peanut butter, peanut meal and oil are in so many of the products that kids here eat.
DH came home for lunch today and made a peanut-butter and sliced banana open-faced sandwich. We go through a jar every 3 weeks.
I admit I like it a lot--especially in protein smoothies, with sweetened coconut milk and chili paste over vegetable or noodles, or in sweets. Or off a spoon.
Oh yea, lovers of the stuff here. Doing chicken satay tonight. Creamy PB, a little coconut milk, some soy, lots of sriracha... Not enough ways to say YUM!
Then, of course, its (quite) a few chocolate chips and a big blob of crunchy PB in a coffee cup for a late night snack.
Personally, I prefer it with honey. Over the years, jam with peanut butter just doesn't work for me. I won't even eat a pbj. It's got to be honey. On the other hand, I've never learned to like such variations as peanut butter and bacon sandwiches that I've seen in very old cookbooks.
OMG once I had a peanut butter bacon burger and it was to DIE for!!!!
The woman who hosted me in Argentina told me not to have peanut butter when she was around. She too hated the stuff.
...and that CLAGGY feeling on the roof of the mouth...Love that word, "CLAGGY!" I think that's going to be my new favorite descriptive word.
I had a friend who was an au pair here in the states for a year, then he went back to Germany and I'd send him PB in plastic tubes. He loved it and couldn't get PB there at the time. I guess it's been available for a while now, as he no longer needs to have me mail it. (Makes me a little sad actually. It was a fun "chore.")
I grew up in an American/British household and my whole family looooves peanut butter ;)
You never used to be able to buy it in the UK but over the last few years, the number of brands available has increased. I tend to go for the unsweetened stuff. Unfortunately, unless you go to Costco, you can't buy it in gigantic tubs like you can in any US supermarket!
Peanut-butter flavoured things are also creeping their way into UK shops - stuff like Reese's products and other chocolatey things.
I do know lots of Brits who despise the stuff though. When I started going to a British primary school, kids would make fun of me for having peanut butter & jelly sandwiches! "Jelly" here means "gelatine/Jell-o" so of course the combination didn't sound too appealing to them :)
IshbelRobertson
3-8-12, 5:44pm
Love that word, "CLAGGY!" I think that's going to be my new favorite descriptive word.
I had a friend who was an au pair here in the states for a year, then he went back to Germany and I'd send him PB in plastic tubes. He loved it and couldn't get PB there at the time. I guess it's been available for a while now, as he no longer needs to have me mail it. (Makes me a little sad actually. It was a fun "chore.")
Claggy? Now that's a good Scots word (and also from the north of England) - it's very expressive, like most of our dialect-based words!
My kids LOVE peanut butter, we go through 1.5 jars (16oz) per week. My kids will eat a Spoonful of it.
Me. Meh. I would not buy it but for the kids.
....though in a Thai stir fry, it is an whole 'nother matter.
Odd thought here, but I remember in the Harry Potter books, which are supposed to be quintessentially English, especially when describing the food, there is a scene where the kids eat peanut butter and Strawberry ice cream, which sounds gross to me as an ice cream anyway.
My other thought on Peanut butter is that, to me, it doesn't seem like a terribly strong flavor. Rather mild really. So, I'm guessing the peanut butter haters don't care for peanut butter cookies? I also read that Nutella in the USA isn't like the Nutella in the UK.
IshbelRobertson
3-11-12, 5:51am
Ive never tried peanut butter biscuits (your cookies/our biscuits!) due to my dislike of pb! I don't know if the USA's version of nutella is the same as that sold in the UK, but ours is the same as you can buy in mainland Europe.
HP is a VERY modern wizard! I suspect JKR likes pb, or she wouldn't mention it!
Ive never tried peanut butter biscuits (your cookies/our biscuits!) due to my dislike of pb! I don't know if the USA's version of nutella is the same as that sold in the UK, but ours is the same as you can buy in mainland Europe.
HP is a VERY modern wizard! I suspect JKR likes pb, or she wouldn't mention it!
I suppose you are right on the HP point. Most Peanut Butter cookies are rather soft and chewy. Would that still qualify it as a biscuit?
Everything I've read leads me to believe they've cheapened up the American Nutella, making it sweeter, less nutty and more hydrogenated, which is too bad, because I can't understand why everything brought to America has to be dumbed down for "American tastes". There used to be another hazelnut spread sold here, but I can't remember what it was called.
IshbelRobertson
3-11-12, 6:30pm
I see 'cookies' as a description more and more on shop-bought, processed biscuits here, Tiam... ;)
How sad if they alter Nutella for the US market. I personally don't like it, I think it has a chemical taste, but have been assured that there is nothing in the product that would cause me to taste 'chemicals'.... My kids adored it - and I always felt it was the lesser of two evils between that and pb!
I loved peanut butter so much that I, at about age 6, I got up early and ate a whole jarful with a spoon. I could not eat PB for years ever afterwards and even the smell was too much. PB cookies made me gag. As my kids came along, grew up and enjoyed the taste, I was able to try and enjoy it again.
Not to derail the thread, but have you noticed a substantial increase in price in the last month or so? About $1/lb more around here.
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