On April 6, 2018, The New York Times ended the culinary world as we know it. They published a recipe in their Friday issue that has left readers perplexed, disgusted, and, honestly, a bit scared. Have you ever tried a peanut butter and pickle sandwich? One of the most prominent publications in the United States is now recommending it as a tasty treat.
You know it's Friday at 4 pm when the @NYTimes Cooking team publishes this recipe. https://t.co/wCm5CyWpgZ pic.twitter.com/Ziybdfjl6O
— Greg Rosalsky (@elliswonk) April 6, 2018
Why would the NYT do this? Twitter brainstormed some explanations.
when the social team gets high on Friday and never switches to their personal accounts https://t.co/rdmXrGqBTV
— BUM CHILLUPS (@edsbs) April 6, 2018
Some people just want to watch the world burn
— Veera Kaukoniemi (@vkaukoni) April 6, 2018
Regardless, the internet did NOT approve.
— Michael Tannenbaum (@iamTannenbaum) April 6, 2018
please put this behind a paywall
— Honorary Boyband Member™ (@broazay) April 6, 2018
Even some New York Times staff were pretty upset by the recipe.
I’m quitting.
— Farhad Manjoo (@fmanjoo) April 6, 2018
But just when it seemed the recipe was universally abhorred, fans began creeping out of the woodwork.
Say what you will...But peanut butter and pickle on a cracker is my favorite snack! A whole sandwich? Yeah, maybe not! pic.twitter.com/930mJ0sjYU
— Audrey (@audreyfsisson) April 6, 2018
I grew up eating them. Dill pickles only.
— trudy stachowiak (@stackingboxes) April 6, 2018
A delicious peanut butter and pickle sandwich to start the day off! pic.twitter.com/Oexi6vqjig
— Brian Murphy (@Brian_Murphy_) March 26, 2018
And sure enough, before long people began getting curious...
i would eat the peanut butter and pickle sandwich
— (((Ian Phillips))) (@IanReelDeal) April 6, 2018
Jamie just informed me that she eats peanut butter with her pickles pic.twitter.com/TpwMrvDBnH
— sydney (@sydney_amber13) April 6, 2018
The author of the recipe penned an essay about PB&P sandwiches for the NYT in 2012. He describes them as an American classic:
My father passed them down to me. Peanut butter and pickle sandwiches got him through law school at West Virginia University. I've come to consider them the work-at-home writer's friend. The ingredients are always there for you, waiting loyally in the pantry when more glamorous lunch options (cold cuts, leftovers) aren't returning your calls.
The PB&P has been a minority enthusiasm in America for generations, lingering just under the radar. The sandwiches appeared on lunch-counter menus during the Great Depression and in extension-service cookbooks in the 1930s and '40s in recipes that generally called for a few spoonfuls of pickle relish. A lot of people's grandmothers used to eat them.
Despite this, many retained their...skepticism.
— Orlando Magic Tanking Enthusiast (@abt05c) April 6, 2018
Some believe it's the worst recipe the Times has ever suggested.
And this isn't even the first time in recent memory the NYT has suggested culinary madness.
This is worse than the peas in guacamole https://t.co/eqYjwPzJp4
— Mary Ellen McIntire (@MelMcIntire) April 6, 2018
@BoLoudon/X