Rediscovering Pimento Cheese
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 1:00AM 
“What’s this stuff?” Nicky asked, holding up a giant tub of pimento cheese at our neighborhood market. “Oh, it’s just a Southern thing.” I said. “I used to carry it in my school lunchbox.” Then Andrew added, “Well, it’s actually a Midwest thing too.”
Almost everyone has a dish they remember from childhood or family gatherings of years past. I don’t know exactly when I had my first taste of pimento cheese, but if I had to guess, I’d say it was a lunchbox sandwich. As memory serves me, my childhood sandwiches were often pimento cheese, PB&J, olive loaf or bologna on white bread.
Andrew even remembers pimento cheese balls coated with slivered almonds and a maraschino cherry on top from Schuler’s Steakhouse every Thanksgiving and Christmas. In fact, it was a part of almost every holiday buffet spread we could remember.