Throwback Thursday from Sept. 2015 – The Joys Of A Chicken Salad Sandwich
Throwback Thursday
The Joys Of A Chicken Salad Sandwich
THE OTHER MORNING, I and my wife, the lovely and the usually asleep at that hour, Dawn, both got up at about 7 AM. That’s my normal hour, but for Dawn it is not. I am her Organic Alarm Clock, waking her at 8:30 AM most mornings.
This “temporal distortion,” to borrow a phrase from Star Trek, threw off my schedule for the entire day. I was at St. Arbucks before 8 o’clock, back home by 10 and finished with lunch by 10:30. It was like having a chicken salad sandwich for breakfast. But – Why not I say!
It set me to thinking about your basic chicken salad sandwich and how incredibly versatile it is. I just had it for breakfast. It digests well with me early in the day. It has some bits of egg and mayo (made with eggs) in it so I think it can qualify as a technical breakfast.
A chicken salad sandwich is considered a classic lunch choice. You can have it on plain white bread or dress it up by tucking it into a croissant. It usually has some celery and bits of other veggies mixed in so it is a “healthy choice.”
It can serve well as a light supper too when something heavier might not sit well. Some evenings a Steak and Potatoes meal just doesn’t work. But the ever gentle chicken salad sandwich supplies a nice protein load and is downright tasty.
It can make a great midnight snack as well. With or without bread it is simple and not very noisy, so no one else in the house is disturbed. There are no beeps from a microwave or buzzers from oven timers. Use a plastic fork and you can eliminate any annoying cutlery clanking.
Some people think that chicken salad is too plain and they alter the basic recipe by adding grapes or apples to the mix. Personally, I think that a handful of potato chips on the side is all it needs. But, then again, I’m a simple sort, not needing to take my sandwich “Uptown.”
I get my chicken salad from the Deli Counter at the Kroger’s store. They have other styles of chicken salad available, but I’ve tried and rejected them as failed attempts to salvage their unsold rotisserie chickens by making a “Gourmet” chicken salad and charging a buck more per pound. It wasn’t broke, but they decided to break it anyway.
No thanks. I’ll pass.
My needs in life are simple and uncomplicated. I like my coffee in the morning and tea in the afternoon; my baseball without the designated hitter, and my chicken salad without grapes or “Gourmet” chicken bits.
I think that a chicken salad sandwich is one of those “perfect foods” that deliver nutrition and flavor without putting on airs or pretending to be more than it is. It joins the ranks of other “perfect foods” like Buttered Popcorn, Ballpark Hot Dogs, and Pepperoni Pizza. I acknowledge that there are other foods that rank highly, but fall just short of the Mount Olympus of foods. That orange colored delight of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese comes closer than most and it is hard to bad mouth the Big Mac, but all I can say is, “Close – but no cigar.”
It is chicken salad today, chicken salad tomorrow, and chicken salad forever – and remember – Ain’t no chicken ever had no “nuggets.”
Down the Hall on Your Left 
Well said, John!
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