Is it hyperbole to say that peanut butter is the stuff that binds us together as a nation? More than abstract ideas in old handwritten documents, more than our uniquely formed sense of possibility, our sense that anything can be done—is it nonsensical to acknowledge and dignify the sublime nut paste that touches every one of us, in every corner and grouplet of the country, throughout our lives?

Surely not. Let us enshrine this substance, this nutritious ambrosia of ground-up nuts—not our invention, true, that was the Incas thousands of years ago, then the Portuguese took it to Africa, then Africans brought it to North America, yes yes, fine, we may have only the slightest ancestral claim to it.

But the alchemy! The partially hydrogenated oil that holds it in suspension, shelf stable for months, the industrial processes that produce 1.4 billion pounds a year, such bounty!—surely that is our own, profoundly American, invention. This global hybrid we adopted and refined, sold back to the world and to ourselves as quintessentially American, this protein-rich, inexpensive food we colonized psychologically, is ours.

People from other countries may shake their heads in nonplussed wonder—those poor people! Not to know in their bones, in the deepest recesses of childhood memories, the untold PB&J sandwiches, the knife scraped against the edge of the jar, the spoonfuls of exquisite deliciousness as a snack to stave off hunger before dinner. Not to know our passion for our paste. We must pity them.

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Links:

• “A Brief History of Peanut Butter” – Kate Wheeling, Smithsonian Magazine, January 2021

  
  

• Peanut Butter recipes - Epicurious.com

  
  

• USDA Reports - American Peanut Council

  
  

This post is part of The American 250, a series featuring 250 objects made by Americans, located in America, in honor of the country's 250th anniversary. 250 words on 250 works, from January 1 to December 31, 2026.

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