The Charlottesville 29

It’s bananas! That’s it!

As a 34-year customer of Bodo’s Bagels, I have long maintained that maximizing enjoyment of a Bodo’s sandwich requires saying one word when ordering it. “Cut.” This should seem clear from the fact that it is a sandwich. How often do people eat sandwiches whole, without cutting them?

But, despite how obvious it may be to some, there are still skeptics, and for years, I wondered how best to explain it to them. It is the type of lingering question that can pop into one’s head during idle time, like in the shower, on a long drive, or during a haircut.

Today, during a haircut, it hit me. Bananas.

Stay with me here.

Another longtime view I have held is that a banana is one of nature’s most perfect foods. Think about it. The sweet, custardy, nutritious flesh comes ready to eat, in its own wrapper that preserves it and protects it from the elements. All you need to do is open it up and enjoy. Plus, it’s portable, and the removable wrapper even serves as a handle when eating it. On top of all that is its ideal size and shape for the human mouth. The long, curved shape allows people to ensure consistency in the size and shape of every bite.

Given its shape, you’d never turn a banana on its side and chomp away at the middle of it. You’d lose the benefit of the consistency in size and shape of each bite. But, eating a bagel sandwich without cutting is like doing just that. When munching right into the curved exterior, bites will vary in size, shape, and content. Cutting a Bodo’s sandwich in half, on the other hand, essentially leaves you with two bananas – long C-shaped foods that allow consumers to customize every bite to be just right.

Q.E.D.