I love fresh bread, and when the loaf is good'n'fresh I want the endpiece (some folks call it the "heel"). Fresh "Wholesome Harvest" 9-grain bread with Hellmann's mayo and thick slices of good ripe banana is a great treat to me. The whole grain bread adds a nuttiness that is almost peanut-butter-like. I just devoured the 'nanner sammich in this picture. Yum.
I could not have made it to adulthood without the many peanut-butter and banana sandwiches I consumed in my childhood and adolescence. Back then it was probably Merita white bread. I don't remember if Mother had a favorite mayonnaise -- I never got involved in the Duke's vs Hellman wars till Sheila set me straight. In our household it is Hellmann's.
I vividly remember my first Sunday evening meal at Asbury College in 1965. The tradition there was that on Sunday evenings the cafeteria sets out luncheon meats, cheeses, breads, condiments, veggies, and fruits, and we students generally made sandwiches and salads. I suppose since Sunday dinner (noon meal) was usually the best of the week, Sunday supper was lighter.
I paraded with my new friends sliding our trays along the stainless steel shelf through the meal line. Along the way we gathered our construction materials; and six or eight of us plopped down around a big table and everyone set about erecting a favorite sandwich of his own imagining. I, of course, was busy slicing my 'nanner and slathering peanut butter on my white bread masterpiece when I suddenly realized a quiet had settled over the table. I glanced up and noticed all eyes on me. Those Yankee idiots are gobsmacked that anyone would put banana on a sandwich! How had they survived 18 or 19 years in such a cultural wasteland as evidently exists north of the Ohio river?! Some actually ridiculed my culinary choices; the same folks are known to sometimes put baked beans into sandwiches!
I harrumphed and devoured my delicious creation between gulps of good cold milk!
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