Think Those Kraft Peanut Butter Bears are Cute?

"Contains: Peanut". Um, obviously!

Okay, they are. But Kraft Peanut Butter has just entered the world of evil.

Like any kid who grew up in Canada in the 70s and 80s, I was raised on a (not so healthy) diet of oil and icing sugar laden peanut butter. Lots of it. Kids growing up in Canada since the 90s have had considerably less of this thanks to better awareness of severe allergies and most schools banning peanut products from their premises. But for my generation, it was a staple. Especially if you were a picky eater like I was. My favourite brand was always the Kraft Smooth, and it is a comfort food I always bring back with me when I go back to Canada (the British just don’t understand peanut butter).

But now it’s evil.

Soybean Oil is now the second ingredient. I’m so vexed.

As I’ve said in other posts, I have an intolerance to soya. I can handle a small amount of soya sauce and the soya lecithin found in chocolate (it doesn’t make up much of the chocolate, something like less than 0.5%), but that’s about it. It’s not an allergy, but soya seriously does my stomach in, and I always know within about 2 hours of eating something if I have accidentally eaten something with it.

I haven’t been able to stomach peanut butter since the autumn, but the freelance dietitian said to feel free to give it a go again provided that it is smooth peanut butter (as all nuts and legumes in their usual forms are out of the question on a low-residue diet) and that I start out with only ½ tsp and build up to no more than a tablespoon because of the fat content. Peanut butter obviously doesn’t comply with the “fat-restricted” part of this diet (and there is considerable controversy about whether or not it should be on the "go" list), but it is high in protein and would at least give me something to stick on crackers for a snack. So tonight, I thought I would give that a go. I opened the new jar that my mom sent me for Christmas and had just spread ½ tsp on a cracker when I noticed the ingredient change. Balls.

A good moan about this to other Canadian Ex-Pats means that I’ve already found a home for the jar. And the jar’s soon-to-be new owner dug out a jar of Skippy she found at Costco (and also stocked at Sainsburys), which does not have soyabean oil in it. Yet. So I’m abandoning the cute bears in favour of the squirrel. Let’s hope it goes down okay.