Jennifer Abadi: Chef Jennifer remembers tuna sandwiches like many remember chicken soup - little platters full of the treasures on days she was home sick. Her mom used white bumble bee tuna, Hellman’s mayonnaise, lemon juice, and sometimes celery. She mounded the salad on toasted white bread, and always cut the sandwich on a diagonal. But the love didn’t stop there, Jennifer’s sandwiches always came with a garnish, a pickle, a cup of soup, something extra. As if a plate full of her favorite tuna sandwich didn’t already make her special time home from school with her mom filled enough. Jennifer swears that no matter how many times she’s tried, she can’t recreate the tuna salad. Lucky for her, she still lives in the same building as her mom and gets the special sandwich when she most needs it.

Sing Along! Bumble Bee

Elizabeth Meltz: My mom made tuna salad by opening a can of Bumble bee, draining the water into the sink, and emptying the meaty contents into a small metal bowl with high sides. With a large wooden tablespoon she’d add two huge dollops of Hellman’s, a large pinch or two of dried parsley, the same of oregano, and some salt and freshly ground pepper. With a fork she’d mash and mix and scrape, metal against metal, a horrible, grating sound that should have been excruciating, but instead was a pleasure, indicating the goodness of tuna salad to come. Today I return the favor by making tuna salad for my mother: in a plastic bowl, with imported Italian tuna packed in olive oil, with fresh chopped parsley and scallions.

Chicken of the SeaJennifer Beisser: To this day, I can’t help but think of tuna fish as health food that comes in a turquoise Tupperware bowl and is best relished over a lunchtime soap opera. I loved watching the day’s love affairs with mom during lunch. Still, whether I was having my favorite peanut butter and peach jelly on wheat, cut on the diagonal, or an incredible leftover from last night’s home cooked meal, most of my attention was on mom and her salad. The smell of tuna was so…..healthy! but the crunch, crunch, crunch of chopped lettuce, celery, carrots or cucumbers, and Italian dressing always made me think that one day I would be a busy mom taking a break to enjoy a daily ritual.

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