Tuesday, 18 August 2026

Simple tastes

 

Simple tastes

Occasionally, when the worms bite, simple food is the most desirable.

My father would sometimes sit down with a piece of bread, salt, and pepper, and thoroughly enjoy his simple snack.

I never add salt to my meals, and rarely to my cooking, but yesterday I had a hankering for salt, so I cut a tomato in half and added a pinch of salt. It was delicious.

Recently, I bought some bananas. I like them firm and underripe, but the ones I hadn’t eaten had started to ripen. I didn’t want to waste them, so made a banana sandwich, something I hadn’t eaten for years. I could have mashed them with milk, for that was another childhood treat.

Another simple taste is a bread and butter sandwich. There’s little more satisfying when a snack is called for.

I'm not entering my second childhood. I haven't emerged from my first, yet.

At other times, fruit makes a quick bite.

What are your favourite snacks?

 

76 comments:

  1. Anything that doesn't need a plate or a knife eg a slice of bread and a slice of cheddar cheese.

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  2. When it comes to snacks I don't think I have a favourite, though in summer it is always something cooling and in winter something savoury. When very young my dad and sister loved "schmaltz and saltz" which was bread spread with lard and sprinkled with salt, while my brother and I used unsalted butter instead of lard and were a bit more liberal with the salt.

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    1. I remember dripping from a beef joint - delicious.

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  3. Potato chips are a fav snack that I seldom have, at least not anymore. I usually have a handful of sesame sticks for my elevenses. I have never called them that but these days, it seems to be occurring ~ 11.

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    1. I can't remember the last time I had crisps/chips. Now you've got me thinking . . .

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  4. I love a banana sandwich & often sprinkle a quarter teaspoon of sugar on mine (!!) We eat a lot of bananas in our house.
    If I feel like something more substantial for lunch then I boil an egg, mash it with some butter & if I have tomatoes then I chop one of these up on the mashed egg & have it on a sandwich, lots of pepper added. Delicious. cc

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  5. You won't believe it, cheese with holes...emmental or a piece of chocolate :)))

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    1. Oh, yes, I'd go with those - especially the chocolate. 😷

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  6. Mine is cheese and crackers, with tomatoes and green grapes, just a nice cheddar. I do love most cheeses, but snacking is alway simple. Afternoon coffee we always have a slice of home made cake.
    I use very little salt, rarely in cooking, often on salad and always on potatoes.

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    Replies
    1. Snacking on cheese is so moreish - delicious.

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  7. I can not imagine to live without bread! Fresh from the bakery down the road, I carry a loaf in a paper bag and when I have to stop at the traffic lights, the scent is SO GOOD that I am very tempted to open the bag and tear of a piece to eat right there and then. I never do, but I do open the bag and take a sniff.
    Bread with just butter, or with cheese, is my staple food - much more than just a snack.

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    1. As a child I used to go shopping for my mother. All the shopkeepers knew me and I was quite safe. Bread was always my downfall as I could never resist tearing off a little of the crust . . . and then a little more. As far as I can remember, I was never in trouble for it, though.

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    2. shopkeepers knew me too and after cutting a wedge of cheese for my Dad, they often cut an extra slice, quite thin, for me to eat on the way home.

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  8. As a child, a brown sauce or a tomato sauce, or a crisp sandwich. Today more sophisticated. Egg mayonnaise or something with avocado in.

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    1. Just remembered the 'stottie' or very large white bacon roll from Whitby. Also chip butties ;)

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    2. I always bought crisp sandwiches at the outdoor swimming pool where I used to spend most of my summer days.

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    3. Chip butties!! The first - and so far only - time I have come across these was from a van stationed along a path above Scarborough's South Bay. I wonder if they still do them.

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  9. I love rough oatcakes and will eat one just as it comes when I'm hungry.

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  10. Whatever leftover is in the fridge from yesterday's dinner.

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  11. Ks favourite, from childhood, is a chunk of bread with tomato paste.
    A chewy bit of bread with some decent butter.
    Sliced bread doesn't do it. Love banana sandwiches. Haven't had one in ages

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    1. Crusty bread is not to be beaten with decent butter.

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  12. I cannot think of anything that I would deem a favourite snack. Cheese and crackers, maybe. I can assure you that a banana sandwich is not about to make the grade! When bananas get overripe here, we turn them into banana bread or muffins, or smoothies. .

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    1. Try as I might, I do not like smoothies. I think it's the texture I dislike.

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  13. I’m the same with salt. I don’t salt my food or add it when cooking. My husband used to yell at me to add salt when I cooked. I like peanut butter toast for a snack

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    1. Lemon makes a good substitute for salt. My husband has to watch his salt intake, so we're careful.

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  14. I think we all have certain foods that from a child on we never want to relinquish. I'm still a peanut butter and jelly girl.

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  15. I’ve got a very sweet tooth but finding that these days salty snacks are high on my wish list, I’ve put salt in and on meals during this heat but now need to reign that in a bit.
    Alison in Devon x

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  16. Salt is like sugar in that the more you use the more you want. It's difficult to stop that upward trend.

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  17. Last night I was in the mood for a sandwich, so it was a banana sandwich. I didn't know anyone else made them!

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  18. Like you, my bananas need to be on the greenish side of yellow.
    If they get too ripe. I peel them and stick them in the freezer.
    Thinly sliced over porridge, or mashed to be enjoyed as a refreshing treat in hot weather. ~ skye

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  19. I love a fresh Summer tomato sandwich. Yum!

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  20. Sliced bananas, peanut butter and a little mayo on two slices of sandwich bread. Linda in Kansas

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  21. I often make an apple sandwich. Banana and honey sandwich is nice too. You can tell I have a sweet tooth.

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    1. I've never had an apple sandwich. I'll have to try that. I don't like honey, so will just continue with plain banana . . .

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  22. Now that I watch my weight carefully I like to eat dried apricots, prunes and crackers by "Kallo".

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    1. Dried fruit is quite high in sugar, but I expect you know that.

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  23. Tomato sandwiches. Toast, mayo, a thick slice of tomato and a good healthy dose of coarsely ground black pepper. Food fit for a king.

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    1. Tomatoes are wonderful - sweet and juicy, and pepper certainly adds to the delight.

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  24. My Great Granny used to make me sauce sandwiches with a sprinkle of salt when I was little. Now I love a marmite and tomato sandwich. Xx

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  25. Ooh, yes, Marmite and tomato is a wonderful combination.

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  26. I don't use much salt, but do like a juicy tomato sprinkled with it.

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  27. When I crave salt I reach for dill pickles or olives. Apples and cheddar cheese are another favorite snack.

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    1. Apples and cheese are such a fine combination.

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  28. I don't often crave salt. Dave uses salt pretty liberally when he cooks so I think I've stockpiled enough of it in my own body!

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  29. I have said it before and I will say it again: toasted bread with butter is love.

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    1. The butter just soaks into the toast - deliciousl

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  30. Yes to bread and butter sandwiches!-Christine cmlk79.blogspot.com

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  31. My favorite are pistachios, I grind them and mix them with butter and ground chickpeas and eat them as a spread on corn or mixed wholemeal bread. A great dinner or breakfast.

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  32. Replies
    1. My mouth waters just thinking of lemons!

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  33. I would never go to my granddad when I was very little. One day he was eating saltine crackers in milk. I climbed up on his lap and we shared the bowl. I still eat this.

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  34. I like the tomato out of the box and eat it like an apple., Oh yes, a little salt.

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  35. I used to love bread and butter but not since I was a kid. Now my snack is popcorn.

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    1. I like popcorn, too, but limit myself to once or twice a year.

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  36. My go to snack is cheese ... perhaps with a few olives.

    All the best Jan

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  37. Some times mid afternoon, only a couple of slices of toast will do, buttered and with a spread.

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  38. Define "snack" LOL.... I've so many favorites and none very healthy I know. (Pray tell, how does one make a "banana sandwich"??) (Your post did bring to mind one of my father's favorite things: milk toast. To me, it still conjures thoughts of being as gross as it sounds.)

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  39. I've just looked up milk toast - there are several variations, it seems! The nearest I've had to that is bread and milk - exactly as it sounds!
    To make a banana sandwich, slice a banana and put them between two slices of bread. Sugar, brown or white, is optional.

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  40. I love a banana sandwich, so I think that's my lunch sorted today! xxx

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  41. Banana sandwiches are very satisfying somehow. I hope you're enjoying your holiday, Ann.

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