Fluff

Digest: Fluff

Posted by Bruce Bilmes and Susan Boyle on Saturday, June 16, 2012 1:03 PM

Did you know that Marshmallow Fluff was invented in Massachusetts pre-WWI? And that the Massachusetts state legislature once considered naming the Fluffernutter the official state sandwich? And, furthermore, did you know that October 8 is National Fluffernutter Day? You will learn all this Fluff stuff, and more, when you listen to Jane and Michael Stern's latest appearance on Lynne Rossetto Kasper's The Splendid Table. While the subject of the discussion is Fluff, the reason for the discussion is to present an example of what readers will find in the Sterns' wonderful book, The Lexicon of Real American Food.

The Sterns' appearance on Lynne's show can be heard online, as can Lynne's entire show. Or catch the show on your local public radio station.

Source: The Splendid Table

3 Comments:

We live right down the street from Union Square in Somerville, where they hold an annual Fluff Festival in the fall (http://unionsquaremain.org/fluff-festival/). Talk about taking fluff seriously!

Posted by ayersian on Sunday, Jun 17, 2012 3:50 PM

Years ago a friend of mine worked at a fairly upscale restaurant that did a big lunch business with customers from a couple of large corporations nearby. One day a table of executive types is seated. He takes order and one guy, who was big shot at one of big companies, asks for fluffernutter. Everyone chuckles a bit and my friend just stands there, figuring it is a joke and waiting for real order. Guy says he is serious and my friend says he is sorry but that isn't on menu. Guy says "go in back, they'll have it". So he does this and sure enough, chef knows who the guy is and gets the fluff and peanut butter from the back of a shelf and makes the guy his sandwich. Some kids never grow up...and that is a good thing!

Posted by Tony Bad on Monday, Jun 18, 2012 11:03 AM

Have to admire a man with the self-confidence to order a Fluffernutter among business associates. Your story, Tony, reminds me of another story that only barely has anything to do with the subject here. Back in the 50s/60s my father managed supermarkets. One of his meat cutters ate one thing, and one thing only: veal parmigiana. They'd often go out for meals, and when in doubt, the guy would always try to steer the group to a Chinese restaurant. Weird, right? Why would a guy who only ate veal parmigiana want to go for Chinese? Well, it turned out that he knew something that few others knew: whether or not it was on the menu, every Chinese restaurant at the time (this was in the "one from column A and two from column B days) had veal parmigiana available for those who didn't like Chinese food. It was certainly frozen, and was probably a "veal patty" but that didn't matter to the guy, as long as it was veal parmigiana. And so, the only place he could be sure of finding his beloved veal parmigiana, other than an Italian restaurant, was a Chinese restaurant.

Posted by Bruce Bilmes and Susan Boyle on Monday, Jun 18, 2012 11:22 AM

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