But at the heart of all of them are two simple iterations of peanut butter. The classics that inspired countless copies.
Smooth. Crunchy.
When you come down to it, these are really the only kinds of peanut butter that need to exist. Despite the minor differences between the two types, most people would agree that liking one type goes hand in hand with despising the other.
The National Peanut Board offers some enlightening facts about this division; apparently 60 percent of people prefer smooth peanut butter. I know what you're thinking. Crazy, right? It gets weirder. According to the statisticians over at Skippy, men tend to prefer crunchy peanut butter, while women go for the smooth.
Yeah, not in this house. My man and I both prefer crunchy 9 times out of 10. The tenth being when we're either recovering from dental surgery or when we've watched too many sad, homeless animal videos on YouTube.
Still, the statistic beg the question: are there other basic differences between men and women on food preference? We took a look at the issue and documented some hard facts in a totally, completely, very legitimate scientific study, wherein a girl wrote down her own preferences on some common food types, then asked the guy next to her on the couch to give her his.
Coffee: According to E-Imports, American men and women drink the same amount of coffee each day, but most people (of both genders) add sugar and/or cream (65 percent), while only 35 percent prefer it black.
- Man: "Either black or with Baileys."
- Woman: "Almond milk and no sugar. Or if there's no almond milk I'll take 2 percent. Not skim because it's bad for your skin. But usually almond milk. Or Bailey's.
- Man: "Well, I've started liking key lime pie a lot... It's really tart and it's different. It's easy [to make from scratch]. And I do like tiramisu."
- Woman: "Frozen yogurt, probably. But that's a once-in-a-while thing. Usually. Once-in-a-week at most. And I'm always making weird quasi-healthy concoctions with agave and other health food crap in them.
- Man: (On spicy foods) "Love 'em. But not so spicy that it hurts. Not all the time... Am I getting interviewed here?... Not on a quick lunch... or breakfast, y'know." (On adventurous foods) "I'll try anything once. I ate a fish eyeball once. There was a piece in it that was hard. It wasn't... great."
- Woman: On spicy foods) "I go through these phases where it's like, the spicier the better. Then all I want for weeks is bland stuff... bread... oatmeal." (On adventurous foods) "I went to an Asian market where they had live frogs jumping around in an open container by the fish counter and I thought... I'd totally eat that."
Maggie
xoxo