A peanut butter and banana sandwich

Not feeling very hungry, I’ve just had a peanut butter and banana sandwich; the peanut butter was the Marks and Spencer’s version with Marmite.  That would be such a definite no-no for many people – the love it/hate it Marmiters, those who don’t like peanut butter, those who think banana is weird with peanut butter let alone pnb+Marmite… When I was a child we always had Marmite at home (never Bovril for some reason) and when I was older there was peanut butter, but it wasn’t a particular favourite. Banana sandwiches however, were a regular – I guess cheap, nourishing and filling.

Thinking of sandwiches, this is something I wrote some time ago:

When Modern Practical Cookery was written, probably in the late 1920’s, the writers and readers would have been astonished to think that anyone would buy sandwiches. Today sandwich maker must make millions because everywhere you go they are for sale… and that’s a whole other post about why! However, in Modern Practical Cookery there is a small section near the back about sandwiches. Sandwiches, it says, can be made from white or brown bread, and ‘bridge rolls should sometimes be included’. Are bride rolls even made any more? I haven’t seen any for years – I will have a look next time I’m in a baker’s or a bakery section of a shop. It also comments ‘ready-sliced sandwich loaves can now be bought.’ I didn’t think sliced bread came until much later – another thing to be explored another time!

There’s an introductory paragraph suggesting thinly sliced liver sausage (is that still a thing?) minced ham with chopped chives and scrambled egg with pimento. For picnics they should be wrapped in grease-proof paper and put in an airtight tin, or simply wrapped in a cloth. Then come the recipes:

• banana and jam
•  beef and dripping
• cheese/cheese and celery/cream cheese and watercress/cheese and tomato
• cucumber
• egg and anchovy/egg and salad
• ham
• hare and cranberry jelly
• honey and walnut
• hot toast (butter, Cheddar cheese, mustard, mayonnaise, seasoning)
• paste (fish or meat)
• pineapple
• sardine
• tongue/tongue and ham

An interesting selection and I’m not really sure how many would be popular these days!