Give PBJ a Chance!

The Dutch love to eat bread, so much so that it makes up a major part of their diet.  Sandwiches of all sorts are available, but the suggestion of mixing peanut butter with jelly seems to really freak the Dutch out.  Now I love PBJ.  I love it so much that in 6th and 7th grade some people called me "peanut butter jelly girl" because I ate a PBJ sandwich every single day, sometimes two.  Whenever I eat a PBJ sandwich I want to thank George Washington Carver and whoever created jelly for their most delicious inventions.  So, for people to say my beloved peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are gross just boggles my mind.  Aussies and Kiwis understand that most people don't have the palate for vegemite and marmite, but come on - peanut butter jelly is not weird at all!  And I at least try vegemite and marmite!  At a previous dinner with the Dutch NEURUS students, a few of them admitted to never having tried PBJ before.  So, us Americans quickly whipped one up and one of the girls refused to try it - flat out refused.  This same girl told me she'd eaten a peanut butter, cheese and cucumber sandwich before.  Ummmmm, why the jelly hate?  And it's not just the Dutch that think combining delicious, creamy peanut butter with sweet, scrumptious jelly is strange.  An English friend told me "I would never think of combining peanut butter with jelly."  They seem like a completely logical combination to me.  Many people I live with haven't eaten PBJ and are not too keen on trying it.  I've eaten all kinds of new things here - most are really good and some I'll not eat again - so I just wish people would be as open to PBJ as I am to raw herring, some weird eggnog-like hot booze drink that turned orange, croquettes and assorted food you buy out of a wall.  Come on Europeans, give peanut butter and jelly a chance!