The Tuna Sandwich Story Recipe

How to make it

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• My Aunt died in her mid-nineties a few years ago. Before she passed away, she and I spent the day chatting about how people love some recipes and hate others. We talked about how you can't please all of the people no matter how hard you try. We both loved to cook and I was at her home that day to write down some of her favorite recipes to save for my children.
• We laughed over this one particular story about a relative of ours who never cooked a thing in her life. My Aunt told me that happened in the very early sixties. It was a fond memory for her.
• My Aunt Sue drove over to my Aunt Syvia's house one day.
• My cousin Ellen, who was about eight at the time, answered the door with a tuna sandwich in her hand. My cousin told Aunt Sue that she was eating the best tuna sandwich in the world! My Aunt grew suspicious as my Aunt Syvia never cooked and didn't want to cook. She was just one of those people who hated kitchens and wanted nothing to do with them.
• My Aunt followed Ellen back to the dining room table and watched her finish the sandwich while waiting for the girl's mother to join them. Aunt Sue always made tuna sandwiches and made them very well. She was dying to know what was in that sandwich that made Ellen love it so much. She told me that curiousity was really getting the best of her and she even became impatient while waiting for Syvia to join them.
• Finally, Syvia came downstairs and took a seat at the table. Ellen had finished her sandwich and told her mother that it was the very best sandwich and that it was so good she could eat another one! Syvia didn't say anything about the sandwich and told Ellen to take her plate into the kitchen. Sue leaned back in her chair and asked Syvia for the recipe. Syvia seemed surprised at Sue's question and asked, "what recipe?"
• "The recipe for the tuna sandwich! What'd you put in that sandwich that Ellen liked so much?"
• Without any expression on her face, Syvia answered, "There is no recipe. I just drained a can of tuna and put it on some bread."
• Aunt Sue said that she remembered laughing after she heard that. There wasn't a secret ingredient in that tuna. There was nothing in the tuna! Ellen loved the sandwich just because her mother had made it for her. It was plain, canned tuna on white bread and nothing more.
• So when someone tells us that they don't care for one of our recipes, we shouldn't be offended. They might have memories of a better recipe, one from their childhood. A recipe their mother might have made for them! It might have been the plainest recipe or even the worst recipe in the world but to them, it was the best because that's how they want to remember it. We can't duplicate it, no matter how hard we try. And we shouldn't even try. It'll never be as good as what their Mom made them on that one day that left a memorable flavor on their taste buds forever.
• Now that I've written this, I, Annieamie, will never again, try to replicate the bean dish that my husband's mother used to make for him. :)