Month: July 2014

12 restaurants worth a drive to the suburbs [Thrillist] Seasonal Pantry plans a fried chicken and doughnut pop-up [Washingtonian] Chef Troy Williams to open two spots on H Street NW [WBJ] Customers steal the wallpaper at Le Diplomate. [Eater] Meet D.C.’s 10-year-old chef: Luca Trabocchi [Post] Gluten-free bakers organize happy hour. [Zagat] Pret a Manger coming […]

There are many reasons to love the beer renaissance, but the hiking price of the drink is not one of them. Six dollar six-packs used to be the norm; now people are shelling out that same amount for just one beer. It couldn’t be more apropos, then, that…

The Twinkie is famous for being the king of junk food snacks. Even though these golden cakes are small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, it’s quietly understood that they’re as bad for you as a burrito the size of an infant. But that knowledge ha…

Smooth vs. chunky peanut butter: It’s an age-old debate that never ceases to rev our engines and inspire heated arguments. As major peanut butter fans here at HuffPost Taste, we think it’s important to keep the debate alive and active, to encourage new voices and opinions on the matter and to stimulate intelligent and thoughtful conversation on what we believe is a matter of national, and indeed global, significance.

According to the National Peanut Board, every year Americans spend almost $800 million on peanut butter. We’re consuming more than a billion pounds of the stuff each year. With 90 percent of households consuming peanut butter in the U.S., it’s clear that peanut butter really is about as American as apple pie. So what kind of peanut butter do Americans prefer?

Whether you call it smooth or creamy, the kind without the chunks is the chosen favorite among Americans. The National Peanut Board states that a full 60 percent of Americans prefer smooth to chunky. The National Peanut Board also claims that women opt for smooth, while men lean toward chunky.

We at HuffPost Taste have to admit we side with the majority. Smooth peanut butter is creamy, which means it spreads easier on bread, and it mixes better into desserts and smoothies. Smooth peanut butter also lends itself to being licked from a spoon. (You know you’re guilty, too.) Still, we acknowledge there is a time and place for chunky peanut butter, and we’re not alone.

Musician Charlie Daniels likes the chunky stuff:

Just had a banana and crunchy peanut butter sandwich

— Charlie Daniels (@CharlieDaniels) August 2, 2012

And Michael Bloomberg once told the New York Post that his last meal would be a chunky peanut butter sandwich… with bacon, no less.

I always said if I had one breakfast to eat before I die, it would be Wonder Bread toasted, with Skippy Super Chunky melted on it, slices of overripe banana and fresh crisp bacon.

It’s a rare occasion, however, that we would choose chunky over smooth. Most creamy peanut butter lovers, it seems, aren’t as open-minded. At least on Twitter, people feel quite strongly that smooth is superior to chunky:

My mom just said that my attitude is going to put me in jail one day
Literally all I asked for was smooth peanut butter instead of crunchy

— Dylan ▲ (@ughdylankubeny) July 17, 2014

Seriously if you prefer crunchy peanut butter over regular I can only assume you are a communist and support socialist economic practices.

— Eric Frohnapfel (@FrosBeforeHoes) July 15, 2014

Owning chunky peanut butter should be illegal

— Evan Foster (@MuFosta_) July 22, 2014

Guys I try so hard to like chunky peanut butter but I just can’t

— Kellen Moss (@kellenmoss) July 14, 2014

Don’t ask me about politics. I stopped trying to understand the world when I learned some people prefer chunky peanut butter.

— Master of Sarcasm (@tmasterfsarcasm) July 12, 2014

I CAN’T DATE SOMEONE THAT LIKES CHUNKY PEANUT BUTTER LIKE ID RATHER CUT MU TOES OFF

— giasuS || 17 (@larrywhut) June 30, 2014

So where do you stand? Do you prefer smooth or chunky? It’s a critical debate and you owe it to yourself and your country to participate. Let us know what your favorite is and why in the comments.

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