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Playing With Food: A Tasty Trilogy

There is a place where they promote Baby Ruth-stuffed jalapeños (yes) and a “mandog,” a big meat wad of hamburger, ground veal, sausage, egg, breadcrumbs and spices stuffed with hotdog, bacon, sauerkraut, three types of cheese and banana peppers, all on a hoagie roll.

There's a place where dragons roam the grocery store aisles, incinerating promotional posters and knocking over rows of product.

And there's a place-by-the-sea where a little local wrote a peanut-butter sandwich recipe that could earn national champion status.

That's why food is wonderful—because it can entertain, baffle and appall. Food can do it all.

These three discoveries, though, aren't assembled to do just anything. They are intended to bring a little levity (and flavor) to a Monday that just might need it. Here are those three places alluded to above.

1. This Is Why You’re Fat, one of the most appalling and entertaining food websites known to tastebuds. This is the land of sandwiches with donuts for buns and meats as holiday decorations. And it's worth at least a glance.

2. A commercial for La Choy chow mien, where old-school canned Chinese food enjoys a complimentary comedic sensibility that seems decades ahead of its time, not counting the haircuts.

3. Carmel, where 10-year-old Paige Downing is a finalist in the Jif Most Creative Peanut Butter Sandwich Contest. Something about that is just awesome—beyond the fact that she bested hundreds of other entrants.

While her peanut buttery take on satay comes off as clever and culturally appropriate, other finalists have put together recipes that could very well appear on This Is Why You're Fat, like the Peanut Butter, Bacon & Maple Cream Cheese Stuffed French Toast from Chris R. of Roseland, N.J and Re-invented Chicken 'n' Waffles with PBQ Sauce from lil' Landon J. in La Porte, Ind. (They also sound a lot more like breakfast than sandwich.)

Here's a look at her recipe:

Sa-Taysty

Ingredients: 2 tablespoon Jif® Extra Crunchy Peanut Butter 1 tablespoon mango chutney ¼ cup plain low-fat yogurt ½ teaspoon curry powder (mild) ¼ cup finely diced, peeled cucumber plus slices to garnish 2 tablespoons golden raisins 2 oz. diced chicken breast 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro 1 naan bread

Directions: In a bowl, mix together the peanut butter, mango chutney, yogurt and curry powder with a rubber spatula. Add the diced cucumber, golden raisins, chicken and cilantro.

Mix well. Spoon mixture onto one side of the naan bread. Decorate with cucumber slices in a fan shape. Fold over and serve.