Mayonnaise

The mayonnaise on avocados reminded me of the mayonnaise on french fries that one encounters in Argentina, Spain, and other civilized countries. I'm afraid I still prefer ketchup on my french fries but Best Foods Mayonnaise was a common ingredient in many of the salads that I grew up with. My mother's potato salad was made with mayonnaise. Our tuna sandwiches (the most common lunch we packed) were mixed with mayonnaise and celery. We dipped our boiled artichokes in a bowl of mayonnaise. Mother's carrot salad and waldorf salad were made with mayonnaise. There was even a lime jello salad made with grated cucumbers and cottage cheese that tasted much better with a spoonful of mayonnaise on top. My paternal grandmother's crab and shrimp salads were made with mayonnaise and we couldn't have fish without tartar sauce, consisting of mayonnaise, green onions, dill pickles, and black olives. One thing I did not like was macaroni salad made with mayonnaise. When I moved to Pittsburgh and saw you could make a pasta salad with oil and vinegar, it was a real eye opener.

Now I use mayonnaise much less although I do like it on sandwiches and hamburgers and you can't make tuna sandwiches without it. I think it is my husband's Colombian influence. He didn't grow up with it and when we lived in Bogotá from 1973-75, a small jar of mayonnaise was fairly expensive. At that time processed foods in cans and jars and frozen foods were not common. So for the little mayonnaise I used, I would make my own in a blender and it worked very well. It tasted like the real stuff (Best Foods -- Hellman's east of the Rockies...).