Cleaning up yellowed/grubby plastic?

From: der Mouse <mouse_at_Rodents.Montreal.QC.CA>
Date: Wed Aug 25 03:07:48 2004

> ["Jif" the cleaner vs "Jif" the peanut butter]

> As I understand it, "peanut butter" is solely a North-American
> delicacy... the closest thing I'd heart of in the UK would be
> Vegemite (or maybe marmite), but IIRC that's made from brewers yeast,
> is it not?

I spent the second half of 2002 in Norway (Troms?, in case anyone
cares). I found myself missing peanut butter.

I found there was a substance sold there as peanut butter, and it did
bear a detectible resemblance to peanut butter - in fact, it was more
or less identical to the homogenized peanut puree, doped to within an
inch of its life with emulsifiers and preservatives and such until it
requires a discerning tongue to detect the peanuts in its ancestry,
that is sold in the cheaper and lower-class stores in North America.

I did not, alas, find anything like real peanut butter (which to me
means "ground-up peanuts", preferably ground up at the time and place
of sale - while a bit of salt is an acceptable adulteration, I draw the
line at anything further). I was told that the Norwegian appetite for
peanut butter is almost entirely driven by the curiosity which TV
depictions of peanut butter induce in Norwegians who inflict North
American TV on themselves, and that after a few brief experiments,
practically everyone abandons it. And, to be honest, given the
substance that is presented to them under the name of peanut butter, I
really can't blame them.

To what extent this sorry state of affairs is representative of Europe
at large, I am not competent to say. (Indeed, from personal experience
I cannot speak to more than Troms?, though what I was told does seem to
indicate it's representative of Norway.)

/~\ The ASCII der Mouse
\ / Ribbon Campaign
 X Against HTML mouse_at_rodents.montreal.qc.ca
/ \ Email! 7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39 4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B
Received on Wed Aug 25 2004 - 03:07:48 BST