Miracle Whip

I know, I'm supposed to be talking about the firing of Inspectors General, or Trump's order about removing the transgendered from the military, or the sale of TikTok, or whatever*, but I have a matter of greater personal importance.  In Razib's excellent interview of Megan McArdle on American food culture, she mentioned that Miracle Whip, that despised cousin of mayonnaise tended to be favored in Middle America by those of Scandinavian or Eastern European heritage, and thus concentrated in the Midwest. It is sweeter and more vinegary, while Hellman's, Kraft, and Duke's are richer, creamier.  Kewpie, which I have never had, is supposed to be the anti-Miracle Whip, much lower in sugar and vinegar. I may try it.

The Scandinavians and Eastern Europeans favored sweeter and more vinegary dressings from their home cultures.  (Everything from Eastern Europe seems to be vinegary, frankly.) Therefore, when it came out during the Depression as a cheaper alternative - it was mayo mixed with cheaper ingredients - they took to it readily. I don't get how the chronology of this works, frankly.  The Swedes, Poles, etc who came to America were pretty much here by 1930, and most had come at least two generations before.  So these sweeter, more sour dressings from Europe must have been kept alive in the households, as there weren't many Danish or Polish restaurants to spread their popularity. That seems a stretch.

OTOH my Swedish Nanna preferred Miracle Whip, as did her daughter my mother, as do I. So the proof of the dressing is in the spreading, as they say in the Old Country. I have taken a lot of heat for this preference over the years. This has usually taken the benign form of my wife's family simply preferring it and making their tunafish that way. There are snobs, however, who struggle to take air at the mere mention of the stuff. 

Full disclosure: most of the complaints leveled against me comes from my PB & Miracle Whip sandwiches, which are quite lovely but highly disfavored among those who won't try them.  The moisture complements the sticky nut pastes, and jelly is too sweet. I have heard that some like to add banana slices.  I have no objection and those may be fine.  It's just that this leaves half a banana lying around to rot and my original version seems fine as is. I have no need to search farther afield.

*I think the strategy of so many controversies is to dilute the opposition to them.  Liberal groups get a lot of support from unrelated liberal activists who don't have anything of their own going at the moment and are content to wait their turn.  They lend their outraged voices to create a game of whack-a-mole, catching majorities who would allow an actual discussion flat-footed. Trump is whacking many mole-holes at once, whether a head is popping up at the moment or not.  Will it work? Moltke wrote that "No plan of operations extends with any certainty beyond the first encounter with the main enemy forces," which is usually rendered more like "No plan survives first contact with the enemy," or Mike Tyson's "Everybody's got a plan until they get hit." We'll see.