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Thursday, September 23, 2010

In Defense of Jelly, Pepper, and Eggs


In Defense of Jelly, Pepper, and Eggs

Jelly, pepper, and eggs?  I’m sure you’re wondering what in the world those three items have in common. 

-“They’re all foods!”

As true as that is, that’s not the point.  Jelly, pepper, and eggs all suffer from the same spotlight deficiency: second place blues.  They’re all overshadowed by another.  Without these, their counterparts may have never gotten their big break.  This is the case for jelly, pepper, and eggs: star supporters!

Jelly

Jelly puts the J in PB&J. . . literally.  Without it, it’s just not a sandwich.  There would be no personality.  But we always say “peanut butter and jelly,” not “jelly and peanut butter.”  Jelly always gets ripped.  Peanut butter gets to fly first from the tongue while jelly ensues as an easily-misconstrued afterthought.  January 24 is National Peanut Butter day in the U.S. and April 2 is National Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich day.  But poor, second-place Jelly has no day all for itself.  But peanut butter would be nothing if it weren’t for jelly.  Jelly makes the mood.  Need some nostalgia?  Try grape jelly or strawberry.  Business lunch?  Go for the pepper jelly.  Exotic escape?  How about some cactus or dragonfruit jelly?  Next time you see jelly, thank him.

Pepper

Pepper takes its side-seat to salt.  Sure, salt makes everything taste good, but pepper is what brings the spice to the party.  Pepper is what makes your tongue dance, not salt.  Sadly, pepper has been getting the shaft since pre-history.  Both salt and pepper were once valuable and tradable commodities, but salt was the one which ultimately became the base for a very commonly used word today: salary.  And pepper, well, now it’s just the shaker with fewer holes.  (Unless you’re in the UK.  They’re looking out for pepper.)

Eggs

Ham and eggs, anyone?  “Sure!”  Bacon and eggs?  “Any time!”  Who’s up for eggs?  “Um, got any ham or bacon to go with it?”  Society doesn’t let eggs stand alone.  Eggs are never enough.  We even have substitutes for eggs because they can do a number on you cholesterol.  Well you shouldn’t eat ham or bacon by itself either!  Give eggs some credit.  They’ve sat complementarily silent for so long and never complained.  And we’ve been eating them as long as we can remember.  Here’s to the egg: a second-place survivor!

There are many other pair-makers out there which should lest be overlooked.  For now, shed thanks on these three: jelly, pepper, and eggs.

11 comments:

Blogs said...

I use loads of pepper! Yummy! Add speaking of PB and J-Had one yesterday.....:) I could live off them!

Ella Unread said...

lol, completely true. These food items are just like Robin...

Plum said...

I guess I'm a weirdo 'cause all of these take first-place in my life. I'm all about jelly, use a ton of pepper but almost never any salt, and eat eggs by themselves more often than not.

Then again, I've always rooted for the underdog.

Cole Garrett said...

@ Plum.

I see. I'm curious, though do you say, "pass the pepper and salt," or "pass the salt and pepper"?

or "Jelly and Peanut Butter Sandwich?"

(I really am curious, btw)

Ups Downs All Arounds said...

Absolutely awesome AND true!

So, I have one for jelly... We say Jelly-filled donutsBut, then again...is the Donut the main attraction OR is it the jelly??

Also, we say Egg-sandwiches...I think what makes a sandwich is what's in between. EGGS in this case, right? Although I do see that it is rarely standing alone.

Oh! And why is Jelly gendered as a "him"? ;) I'm curious.

Cole Garrett said...

LOL. I didn't even notice I referred to Jelly as a "him". I suppose somewhere in my subconscious, Jelly wears the pants in the PB & J relationship. :-D

Kate Weber said...

Those poor foods. They are the ones that make a dish. Peanut butter is an attention whore.

Progressive Momma said...

This is an awesome post! I'm sorry to say, that I don't dig the jelly (I know people like me ruin it for jelly). I do enough pepper more than salt, but if I need both of them, you are right salt is said first. As far as the eggs, I don't eat ham or bacon...so my eggs stand alone! LOL. Once again great post!

Cole Garrett said...

@ Dani Thanks. You know, there are more egg-only eaters out there than I thought. :)

Anonymous said...

I'm over in the UK for the first time and recently discovered the more-holes-for-pepper situation. I was pretty happy, as I like using pepper more often than salt, but I wasn't prepared for the fact that over here they grind it up much more finely than in the States, and accidentally went a little overboard with it on my egg (which I happened to be eating with jam and toast, not bacon or ham, lol).

Cole Garrett said...

Thanks for confirming that. I've actually never been to the UK. I was banking on wikipedia being right about the holes! LOL.

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