March 2nd, 2006
SunButter!
One time when we were newly dating, Ken and I were at the checkout of some store and I picked up a 5¢ Reeses Peanut Butter Cup. “I won’t kiss you,” he almost warned. (He has a serious peanut allergy.)
For a moment time slowed way down as I stood there pondering. I knew it would bug him if he even smelled it, so clearly I couldn’t buy it; it just took me a minute to process. It wasn’t just *that* peanut butter cup, but all future peanut butter cups I would forego when in his presence.
It’s been over 12 years since I’ve had peanut butter in my kitchen cupboard, baked peanut butter cookies, or made myself what used to be my very favorite snack, buttered white toast topped with creamy peanut butter. It’s a million times worth the “trade off” - still, I’ve missed it; *especially* when I was pregnant.
This morning, I saw [this][1] item in a sale ad. It sounded interesting, if not great, and I thought I’d try it. But at the grocery store I found and bought [THIS][2] instead! Not only is it made in a peanut free facility, every batch is tested for peanut protein!
[SunButter][2] looks and smells just like peanut butter to me (Ken says it’s more of a sunflower seed than peanut smell.) Its texture is identical and it tastes amazingly similar. I think the one with honey would be even more convincing.
My beloved has no interest whatsoever in a peanut butter substitute. All the qualities of peanut butter are inextricably connected to the smell, texture and taste of death. But without endangering him in the least, I can put SunButter on toast, make SunButter cookies and pack SunButter and Jelly sandwiches in the lunch boxes of whichever of our children can acquire a taste for it.
And maybe one day if a guy carrying a SunButter jar bumps into a girl holding a chocolate bar…
I might spend that 5¢ after all.
[1]: http://www.soynutbutter.com/product.html#
[2]: http://www.sunbutter.com/