PB&J as a kid versus now

When I was a kid I would sometimes have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. PB&J, as we called it, was a good choice for lunch. No refrigeration needed, not that we worried that much about that kind of thing back then just like seatbelts and secondhand smoke.

Thinking back, PB&J in the 1970s was a very different creature than today.

My PB&J as a kid came most often on something like Wonder Bread. The peanut butter would like have been Skippy or Jif. The jelly probably was grape or strawberry, and my mom or I would put a really thick layer.

Today I still every so often eat a PB&J, but the me of the 1970s might have been a bit puzzled at this PB&J of today.

My PB&J is always on whole wheat. There’s no white bread in our house. For the peanut butter we are spoiled to have the Davis Food Co-op’s freshly ground from peanuts. It smells really good. You can even grind it yourself there and it comes out warm. The “jelly” for PB&J today for me is often the whole fruit kind of thing. Taken together it is delicious.

The other thing that is different about PB&J today is something I learn from my kids. At school they often are not allowed to eat PB&J at all because of fellow students’ peanut allergies or if they are they have to be wary of where they sit because sometimes there are peanut-free tables.

In December I was in Atlanta for a meeting (see my post on visiting MLK’s birth home) and saw a peanut mobile (above). I know that 1970s kid version of me would have loved to have seen both MLK’s house, as he was a hero of mine, and a peanut mobile.

What do you think of PB&J’s? Take the poll.