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:
I use loads of pepper! Yummy! Add speaking of PB and J-Had one yesterday.....:) I could live off them!
lol, completely true. These food items are just like Robin...
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.
@ 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)
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.
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
Those poor foods. They are the ones that make a dish. Peanut butter is an attention whore.
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!
@ Dani Thanks. You know, there are more egg-only eaters out there than I thought. :)
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).
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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