Here I was thinking peanut butter (and the inspiration to combine it with chocolate) was one of the great American culinary contributions, but I’m reading Ciao America and come across a reference to (paraphrase) “that American abomination peanut butter”
Does the rest of the world hate it? Ignore it?
Canadians at least, Canadians must like peanut butter?
My mother, was born during WWII. When the German occupation of eastern europe ended (after the war) there were sever food shortages in russia. America sent relief supplies including peanut butter. She still remembers the taste from her childhood and though we’ve lived in N.A. for over 30 years now, she still claims she’s not been able to find a brand of peanut butter that tasts as good to her as the one she had as a child in post war Russia.
So, FWIW, Russians seem to like it too. 
When I was an undergrad we had a student from sub-Saharan Africa. He loved American peanut butter. He used it to make peanut-butter soup. (Think of it as kind of a bowl of satay sauce).
I’m a big fan of peanut butter myself, but you must admit - that stuffs’ nasty!
I’m Canadian, and I like it just fine. The only difference between Canadian and American peanut butter seems to be that the former is salty and the latter is sweet. If anybody knows where I might be able to get Kraft Smooth online, please speak up!
I’m pretty sure that, were those non-Americans and Canadians to try North American style peanut butter, and not that crap in a jar they try to pass off as peanut butter, they would like it just fine. 
(I seriously think they heard ‘peanut butter’ and made just that. Mushed up peanuts in butter.)
This one does. Heck, I don’t think my peers and I could have survived childhood without peanut butter. Most of us had some form of peanut butter sandwich for lunch at school daily, and even now, I’ll still enjoy a PB&J from time to time. Mmm!
[Homer Simpson] mmmmmmm…government surplus peanut butter [/Homer Simpson]
You’re looking in the wrong places. I loathe sweet peanut butter. Look in the “health food aisle” or something for unsweeted.
(I personally prefer unsalted, too, though. Just mushed peanuts for me, please. Yum yum!)
It seems they like it in Dharfur (pdf).
Mrs. Stone didn’t know about peanut butter in Odessa, Ukraine growing up. She left there about 9 years ago so it may have changed since then. Having tried it after coming to the US, she is not fond of it and rarely eats it.
She says they did have chocolate butter though that she loved. They sold butter in stores at a deli counter where it came from the farms in large bricks (10-20 lbs) and you would ask for how much you wanted (just like we order cold cuts here) which they would slice off, weigh on a scale, and wrap in paper to take home. In addition to regular butter, they had chocolate butter that was butter mixed with coco powder and was sold in the same fashion.
Canadian, here. Grew up with peanut butter, love peanut butter.
I like the stuff from home and I like the stuff from here. I never noticed a big difference. I used to eat Kraft Smooth, now I just eat whatever I can get here in the states. Right now it looks like we’ve got a big tub of generic Safeway brand in the cupboard.
Of course, at this time, I’m not allowed to eat it (waiting for gallbladder removal). But I want it really bad. Just the smell of it when I open the jar to make my husband’s lunch (he’s usually a deli sammich man, but sometimes I surprise him with a PB&J) makes me want to bust out a spoon and just… savor it. Mmmm.
Being Canadian, I have a taste for the sweet stuff. Pecan tarts and nanaimo bars, please! Sweet American PB? Goooooood!
The peanut butter. Not the spoon.
The guy that sits beside me at work has peanut butter sandwiches every day.
He’s Scottish.
I can’t tell any difference between Canadian and American peanut butter. Is this like the imaginary difference between Molson’s and Bud?
Either way, peanut butter = tasty!
I was just talking about this with my Australian girlfriends the other day. They like peanut butter, but view it more as a savory thing. One of my friends makes peanut butter, cucumber, and sprouts sandwiches. Blech. The thought of peanut butter with strawberry jam grossed them out and it grosses my (Australian) husband out when I make that for our son. It makes me a little queasy, though, when he makes our kid a vegemite and cheese sandwich, so it all evens out.
Peter Pan has a new honey roasted PB that is to die for. When I was a kid mom used to mix a little honey in the peanut butter before putting it on sandwiches and this stuff is pretty darn close.
FYI: When I found out I had diabetes, I took an educational program through the hospital to learn about my fun new condition. During Q&A, someone asked if it was ok for diebetics to eat peanut butter. The dietician recommended the all natural kind because (I’ll never forget this) the typical jar of big brand peanut butter is basically just peanut butter colored lard.
I still eat it though, it’s a guilty pleasure.
Eat peanut butter in China. Both domestic brands and Skippy
It’s quite popular in Australia. But as **C3 ** says, usually as a savoury. If it’s to be mixed with a sweet substance, then the most popular combination I’m aware of is peanut butter and honey. At one stage one could buy jars of peanut butter and honey already mixed.
Another Canadian who grew up on peanut butter. Yum.
I find American pb more sweet.