Happy Mother's Day!

Kathleen: Happy Mother's Day to moms everywhere -- including those who invented or contributed to BAD food! We salute you; we love you; heck, we ARE you. I confess that in my own bad background a sandwich or two (or 2,000) might be found lurking.

When my sons were in their formative years, Wonder Bread was still on the table both literally and figuratively. "Whole wheat" was white bread with a suspect brown tinge to it. "Whole grain," ever so much healthier, was "whole wheat" with what appeared to be milled oats on top and scattered sparingly throughout. Not easily fooled, I stuck with what I knew -- white, soft -- and prayed my little ones' bodies were being built strong 12 ways, per the Wonder Bread slogan.

Through the 1970s and '80s we ate baloney and potted meat sandwiches, tuna and sardine sandwiches, grilled cheese sandwiches, pb&j sandwiches, egg salad sandwiches, ham and egg sandwiches, peanut butter and bacon sandwiches, egg and bacon sandwiches and bacon and bacon sandwiches. If it could be sliced, spread, layered or slathered, it was fair game for two slices of white, fluffy bread.

 And, I might add, we almost always had potato chips on the side and a big glass of whole milk to wash that sandwich meal down!

Now, here's where it gets interesting: We loved our sandwiches and ate them with daring frequency. And we lived to tell the story! My sons grew to manhood and are fit and trim. Healthy specimens, in fact.With their own healthy kids who eat -- yes -- sandwiches.

OK, maybe grilled cheese sandwiches are called paninis these days, but they still go well with tomato soup (or gazpacho, if you must). Perhaps potted meat has been replaced by potted hummus and peanut butter by tahini. And eggs have been deemed in, out, in, out and in again.

Bread itself might go by a different name now, but it (covered with Peter Pan Crunchy and ridiculously sweet strawberry jam) will forever be a Wonder to me.