# Wherefore art thou Bread and Butter pickles? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 29, 2011, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wherefore-art-thou-bread-and-butter-pickles/601227 "2011-10-29T21:13:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2011, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wherefore-art-thou-bread-and-butter-pickles/601227/1 "2011-10-29T21:13:17Z")
Why are they called “bread and butter” pickles. I tried Googling, and have found a couple answers: > [@](#): > > According to [egullet.com](http://egullet.com), bread and butter pickles are named such because during the Depression, they were as regular a part of a diet as bread and butter. Another answer was > [@](#): > > The term bread and butter pickles actually comes from Sweden’s smorgasbord – which is a table of delicacies eaten as etc Neither answer is very authoritative, and they really don’t make sense to me either. Anyone have a better cite than these? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2011, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wherefore-art-thou-bread-and-butter-pickles/601227/2 "2011-10-29T22:50:07Z")
Google’s nGram viewer [gives a cite in 1929](http://books.google.com/books?id=0GlQAAAAYAAJ&q=%22bread+and+butter+pickles%22&dq=%22bread+and+butter+pickles%22&hl=en&ei=doKsTuDxAqL10gGZv4SHDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CGsQ6AEwCTge), which would mean it predates the Depression. The article cited indicates they were originally eaten with bread and butter. ---
**Author:** ![zombywoof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/9e8a1a/32.png) [@zombywoof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zombywoof)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2011, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wherefore-art-thou-bread-and-butter-pickles/601227/3 "2011-10-29T22:56:42Z")
The OED gives a definition for “bread-and-butter” a referring to “every day food” (from which the usage referring to one’s everyday means of living comes from - for example something like “Oil changes are a car repair shop’s bread-and-butter”), somewhat supporting the first definition. ---
**Author:** ![TheChileanBlob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thechileanblob/32/435_2.png) [@TheChileanBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheChileanBlob)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2011, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wherefore-art-thou-bread-and-butter-pickles/601227/4 "2011-10-29T23:00:42Z")
[Here’s](http://chickensintheroad.com/cooking/pickled-out/) another possible cite. > [@](#): > > A brief search led me to numerous websites all offering up one or the other of two theories. Either bread and butter pickles are so named because during the Depression, they were as common as bread and butter OR during the Depression people ate bread and butter with pickles because that was all they could afford. In either case, it appears to be a type of pickle popularized during the Depression era. > _snip_ > I have absolutely zero authority for this statement, but I suspect the second explanation (that people during the Depression ate pickles on buttered bread) is the correct one. Homemade bread, butter from the family cow, and pickles from the garden. I can see people down on their financial luck calling that lunch. Or at least a tasty snack. Calling them bread and butter pickles just because they’re common? Apple pie is common. Why don’t we have bread and butter pie? And so on. Having fulfilled my “straight answer” duties, here’s an anecdote: When I was a kid, my mom would do elaborate dinners for Easter, Christmas, and especially Thanksgiving. Among other appetizers, we would have a tray of different kinds of pickles. It was my job to get the pickle jars out of the fridge and arrange them prettily on a tray. After the meal was over, I would gather up the uneaten pickles (i.e. most of them) and put them back in their jars for the next fancy dinner. We had those same pickles in the fridge for _years._ No one ever really ate any, but they were mandatory at every holiday dinner. I _think_ when we moved out-of-state we threw them away and bought new ones for the new house, but I’m not sure. My mom _still_ has these pickles in her fridge, and I shudder slightly whenever I see them. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2011, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wherefore-art-thou-bread-and-butter-pickles/601227/5 "2011-10-29T23:52:58Z")
They are, among the wide variety of pickles available, particularly nasty tasting IMO. Because we had them on the pickle dish, with a teeny pickle fork, for Thanksgiving, too, and no one ever touched them. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wherefore-art-thou-bread-and-butter-pickles/601227/6 "2011-10-30T00:03:22Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Google’s nGram viewer [gives a cite in 1929](http://books.google.com/books?id=0GlQAAAAYAAJ&q=%22bread+and+butter+pickles%22&dq=%22bread+and+butter+pickles%22&hl=en&ei=doKsTuDxAqL10gGZv4SHDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CGsQ6AEwCTge), which would mean it predates the Depression. The article cited indicates they were originally eaten with bread and butter. Thanks, that’s a good cite. It’s [the July, 1929 issue](http://hearth.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=hearth;cc=hearth;rgn=full%20text;idno=4732504_21_007;didno=4732504_21_007;view=image;seq=0036;node=4732504_21_007%3A1.6), if anyone wants to read it. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wherefore-art-thou-bread-and-butter-pickles/601227/7 "2011-10-30T01:10:35Z")
Searching at that [http://hearth.library.cornell.edu](http://hearth.library.cornell.edu) site in my last post, I found [an ad](http://hearth.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=hearth;cc=hearth;q1=bread%20and%20butter;q2=pickle;op2=near;op3=near;rgn=full%20text;amt2=80;amt3=40;idno=6417403_1390_006;didno=6417403_1390_006;view=image;seq=0191) mentioning “Best Foods (Fanning’s) Bread and Butter Pickles”. [DuckDuckGoing](http://duckduckgo.com/?q=Fanning%27s+%22bread+and+butter%22+pickles) _Fanning’s “bread and butter” pickles_ led me to [a page](http://www.cooksinfo.com/edible.nsf/pages/breadandbutterpickles) at [cooksinfo.com](http://cooksinfo.com) with an image of the Fannings “Bread and Butter” logo they applied for a trademark for in 1923. There’s another story given there, which they quoted from Feingold News (whatever that is) from 1996: > [@](#): > > "In case you have ever wondered where they got their name, GFA Brands, which owns Mrs Fannings, has supplied the background. In the early part of the [Ed: 20th] century Cora and Omar Fanning of Streator, IL found themselves short on cash. What they had going for them, however, was a reliable crop of cucumbers and Mrs. Fanning’s great recipe for sweet & sour pickle chips. Mrs. Fanning worked out an agreement with a local grocer, who gave her groceries – including bread 'n butter – in exchange for the pickles. The name stuck, and has been used by many companies. So I dunno exactly what the true story is, but at least I seem to have made it back to the origin. ---
**Author:** ![apollonia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2bfe46/32.png) [@apollonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/apollonia)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wherefore-art-thou-bread-and-butter-pickles/601227/8 "2011-10-30T01:32:39Z")
My family eats them by the bucketload. I love them. Delicious. Send me all your pickles! ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wherefore-art-thou-bread-and-butter-pickles/601227/9 "2011-10-30T02:24:35Z")
Bread and Butter pickles are delish. Try some from New Braunfels Smokehouse. I could eat them on bread and butter and be pretty happy with them. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wherefore-art-thou-bread-and-butter-pickles/601227/10 "2011-10-30T02:47:39Z")
Actually, I don’t even like them. My wife eats them sometimes, and we were looking at the jar and wondering about the name. I like deli-style pickles. ---
**Author:** ![Lucretia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@Lucretia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucretia)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wherefore-art-thou-bread-and-butter-pickles/601227/11 "2011-10-30T03:49:20Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > They are, among the wide variety of pickles available, particularly nasty tasting IMO. Because we had them on the pickle dish, with a teeny pickle fork, for Thanksgiving, too, and no one ever touched them. I agree. My mother used to can them, and we’d have them with dinner all the time. Gack. Ick. She did learn that skill, however, from my grandfather, who is as typical a product of the Depression as you’ll ever meet, so the ‘Depression Era’ origin makes sense to me. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2011, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wherefore-art-thou-bread-and-butter-pickles/601227/12 "2011-10-30T03:55:43Z")
I actually enjoy B&B pickles because they are an intermediary to the overpowering sweetness of sweet pickles of the nearly crystalized and candied neon varieties. I also enjoy the mustard seeds that seem to cling to the pickle scips. I like to see and taste the pickling spices. Could it possibly have anything to do with the traditional marcelled or crinkle cut nature of B&B pickle chips? The grooving is sort of similar to the pattern that is visible when Butter is spread on Bread with a lightly serrated Butterknife. ---
**Author:** ![misling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3ab097/32.png) [@misling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misling)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2011, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wherefore-art-thou-bread-and-butter-pickles/601227/13 "2011-10-31T19:41:31Z")
It seems all this time I’ve been mislead. My grandmother made something she called ‘bread and butter pickles’ and they were pickled mixed vegetables out of her garden - NOT cucumber pickles. They were delicious. Yum.