Life

8 Ways Peanut Butter Makes Everything Better

by Chrissa Hardy

There are few foods that taste better than peanut butter. Wait... are there any foods that taste better than peanut butter? I'm going to go with no — peanut butter is the best, and it deserves to be celebrated. It is the center of every late-night craving, or mid-day craving, or any-time-of-day craving, really. It's a smooth, thick, sweet and spreadable delight that takes a boring old piece of bread and turns it into a tastebud disco-balled soiree. It can settle your stomach, quench your thirst for junk food, and check off your daily nutrition protein box. It's everything you need and more.

In honor of National Peanut Month, let's take a moment to celebrate the wonder that is peanut butter. Whether crunchy or smooth, reduced or full fat, paired with jelly or honey, peanut butter is the bees knees. It's also a timeless topping. We learn very young just how awesome it is, but that admiration never goes away. We don't outgrow peanut butter, and if anything, we grow to love it more with age. I mean, can you imagine a universe in which peanut butter doesn't exist? Geesh... sounds like a nightmare. I'd take the zombie apocalypse over a life without peanut butter. Here are all the ways peanut butter makes the world a better place.

1. It's the one food you'd miss if you were stranded on an island

Remember on LOST when Charlie and Claire pretended to eat peanut butter out of a jar with their fingers? That's absolutely the kind of activity you'd partake in if you were on an island trying to maintain your sanity. And just imagine that while pregnant. Yikes.

2. Every brand is magically delicious

I realize there are entire families that are either Team Jif or Team Skippy, but honestly, all of them are out-of-the-park yum. You will never be faced with a jar of peanut butter and be like, "umm, no thanks. I'll pass." That will never happen.

3. It's the star of the catchiest song ever created

This will bounce around your brain for the next 72 hours. You're welcome.

4. Every species is obsessed with it

Can you blame them?

5. It's actually healthy for you

Research shows that eating peanuts can decrease your risk of heart disease. They also help protect against diabetes and other chronic diseases. So really, you need to eat peanut butter to save your life.

6. Brad Pitt looks his most adorable self while eating it

Well, only when he's playing Joe Black, which hasn't happened for what, 10 years? But whatevs. Just look at this man and his spoon full o' PB. Swoon.

7. It works for every meal of the day

Put it on plain toast to start the day. Add jelly and chips for a nom-worthy lunch. Spread it on an apple for an afternoon snack. Put it on bread with bananas and bacon for a dinner that Elvis would inhale. Then have it as the gooey center of a Reese's Cup for a delectable dessert. Boom.

8. It's what makes candy the stuff of food fantasies

Speaking of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.... I dare you to stare at this gif and not head immediately to the vending machine. I DARE you.

Image: Bakerella, LOST/ABC; Giphy (8)