I first encountered butter on sandwiches when I was living in East Africa. The housegirl of the family I lived with in Nairobi would never let me do any of my own cooking, even if it was something as simple as a sandwich. So, when I asked her to make me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (more accurately, when she kicked me out of the kitchen after attempting to make my own), it would be delivered to me as a peanut butter and jelly and regular butter sandwich. I thought this was a weird East African custom because, when I moved to Uganda, I found butter on sandwiches there as well. Upon my arrival in the UK, however, I learned that East Africa had actually adopted this odd habit from its colonizers.
In London, you’ll be hard pressed to find a sandwich without butter on it. Ham and Cheese? Nope. Ham and cheese and butter. Turkey? Nope. Turkey and butter. I guess I could understand butter on its own in sandwiches, but they’ll often start with butter and then add mayonnaise or mustard on top of it. I just don’t get it. To me, butter doesn’t have much of a taste, so what are you getting out of it (other than the obvious extra calories)?
I’m looking forward to moving back to the states where I can order a ham sandwich without having to say “no butter please”.
3 comments:
wait is it toasted or what? just cold butter? ew.
In the words of my nephew, Walter...
I love bread with butta. We don't indulge in real butter at home so whenever I taste real butter it is awesome. I recently sampled bread at Costco and thought the bread was fantastic, but actually it was the real butter they spread in abundance all over it that was the real kicker.
I guess the holidays are coming and along with the rest of America I too will gain the avg 9 pounds. Unfortunately it takes me until May to get it back off! Oh well, life is short - eat real butter while you can...
Yes Sah, just cold butter!
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