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”.
wait is it toasted or what? just cold butter? ew.
ReplyDeleteIn the words of my nephew, Walter...
ReplyDeleteI 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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