Jar of peanut butter surrounded by peanuts by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash
I caught coronavirus in October of 2023. I took a covid test that appeared to come up positive. Long story short, I went to a nearby clinic to speak to a medical practioner. She took me outside of the clinic, looked at a photo I took of the positive outcome, and declared “It’s mild.”
Since then, I’ve been craving peanut butter. There’s a company called Justin’s that makes small, gluten-free, peanut butter cups. I went through them quicker than I expected. I spread peanut butter on crackers, and bought a trail mix that had plenty of peanuts in it. And I ate lots of a peanut butter flavored cereal called Panda Puffs.
Why was I craving so much peanut butter? Wikipedia provided an answer.
Peanut butter is a nutrient-rich food containing high levels of protein, several vitamins, and dietary minerals. It is typically served as a spread on bread, toast, or crackers, and used to make sandwiches (notably the peanut butter and jelly sandwich). It is also used in a number of breakfast dishes and desserts, such as granola, smoothies, crepes, cookies, brownies, or croissants.
It all makes sense now! I’m no expert, but I’m guessing that coronavirus does something to the body that makes it want protein, vitamins, and dietary minerals more than usual. Peanut butter has all of those things.
As someone who has a ton of food allergies, I feel lucky that I can safely consume peanuts and peanut butter. It did not occur to me, when I caught coronavirus, that peanut butter was exactly what my body was craving.