“Uncrustables”

The “Uncrustables” sandwich has been my biggest vice since I can remember. Coming from a father who migrated here from Cuba, I have been raised amongst many of his Cuban traditions; one of which is valuing the importance of a high protein diet. My Californian mother bought into his way of thinking so it only makes sense that I was the girl with the eating her daily turkey, tuna or egg salad sandwich in the lunch yard. I was always so jealous of the kids whose parents packed them things like Nutella and banana sandwiches. It was not until high school where I discovered my school peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for just two dollars. It was then when my obsession began.


Uncrustables is a prepackaged peanut butter and jelly sandwich that comes in two flavors: grape or strawberry, and can be purchased in boxes of 4,8, or 16 servings. The sandwich is made by placing peanut butter and jelly and between two pieces of white bread by compressing the edges of the bread together to avoid creating a “crust.” Though this highly processed peanut butter and jelly sandwich is not the healthiest option (being that each 2 ounce sandwich contains 14 grams of sugar and 300 calories, 153 which come from fat, in each serving), can you really beat the convenience of a tasty prepackaged, crust-less, sandwich? The combination of smooth peanut butter and jelly sealed between two pieces of fluffy white bread tells me no.


With the help of technological processing and the ever-growing capitalist system, David Geske and Len Kretchman developed the Uncrustables sandwich on their patio in Fargo, North Dakota in 1995. The sandwich proved to be such a financial success, that just 4 years later, the Smuckers Corporation bought the rights to the sandwich in 1999. In the beginning, Geske and Kretchman strategized a marketing plan in which they targeted middle school aged children in an effort to ease the pressure created by the need to spend time preparing and packing a lunch. In today’s market, Smucker’s has not strayed very far from this marketing plan. Smucker’s centers its advertisements on the idea that their prepackaged sandwich provides a quick and easy option for lunch.


So what is the significance behind this seemingly harmless and simple food? The Uncrustable sandwich can be considered to be the textbook symbol of our capitalistic society. If I had to roll up the US corporate food giants into one sandwich it would be the Uncrustable. Just reading some of the ingredients----wheat, high fructose corn syrup, soybeans, vegetable oil, dextrose and myriad of chemically engineered preservatives and additives----one can see that the corporate food industry has a big presence in the this sandwich. Think of the Uncrustable not as a PB&J but rather as a Big Sugar, Wheat Lobby &Soy Industry sandwich.


But shame on Smuckers for using the quintessential American sandwich to hock their wares. After all the PB &J is the stuff that school yard dreams are made of. It really is one of the foods, besides milk, that conjure up memories of childhood and wholesomeness. It was one of the things that mothers could make inexpensively as they managed to raise their families on limited budgets. So I find it ironic that such a symbol and turn it into highly profitable junk food.


It must have been quite annoying for my mother to provide me such unglamorous sandwiches while dealing with my disappointment as I watched my friends delight in the full immersion of the conveniences and joys of capitalism expressed through their sandwiches.


But while his image is very alluring, the sandwich is not at all the nutritional value that my ugly all-natural-turkey- on-sprouted-bread sandwich would give me.













Yes, my memories of morning sandwich making were a lot less picturesque, but as I grew into a very healthy adult, I have to say that I can only hope, like my mother, that I can resist the call of the capitalism, as it tries to seduce me into buying beautifully packages foods that are not the healthiest for me or for those I may one day care for.









References:


Streitfield, David. "Note: This Headline Is Patented." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 07 Feb. 2003. Web. 24 July 2014ttp://articles.latimes.com/2003/feb/07/business/fi-patent7