I don't have kids, but I was a nanny for years. When the parents cut off the crusts, I would follow suit--a crustless sandwich would get eaten much better than a crusts-on sandwich where a kid would eat the insides only (leaving, in reality, probably 50% of the crust-less part). As for when I have kids of my own, I guess I'll have to bake plenty of bread and show them how much my husband and I enjoy the crust!

The crust is the best part of the bread. It wasn't a chore to eat it then and it's not a chore to eat it now. Crustless bread is a slippery slope to other food pickyness habits.

The crust is the best part! Or so said my grandpa, and grandpa was always right. I would eat the crust first and then the middle. And to this day the crust is my favorite.

I think you need a third option: no, but I liked the crust

I only dislike crust when a sandwich has been poorly assembled. If you don't rearrange the insides of sandwiches from many diners and delis, once you get to the crust, you're only eating crust and lettuce. Not particularly pleasant.

In my depression-era childhood, it would have been unthinkable to waste that much food.

We need another option: I didn't care. :) I ate the whole thing anyway.

My mother would never cut the crust off my sandwich. However, my mom will not only cut the crusts off her grandchildren's sandwiches, she actually cut my daughter's peanut butter sandwich into an octogon at the little one's request. When I asked my daughter, "Diamonds or squares?" and she said "Octogon" I said forgetaboutit. But grandma simply said, "Hmm...how shall I...? Oh yes." Strictness cannot resist the next generation, face it.

I'd eat the crust, but not the end piece - unless it's a grilled cheese (or homemade bread), in which case the end piece is the prized slice of bread.

No -- crust is the best part. In our house we used to fight over the "heel" - best part of a loaf of white bread.

Crust on artisan (sorry couldn't think of a better word) bread is great. Crust on Wonder Bread and it's kind are dry and taste like cardboard. I don't blame kids for wanting crustless and parents for cutting them off.

Gasp! How do you know where your sandwich begins and ends, without the crust?!

I never had crust issues.

In my family, you ate what the adults ate or you didn't eat.

Ditto what @ATNIEL said about artisan vs sandwich bread crusts.

I was always made to eat the crusts when I was a kid, under the guise that they were even healthier than the rest of the bread. Literally about two months ago (I'm 29), I realized that that is impossible--crust comes from the exact same ingredients! So either my Ivy League advanced degree holding mom was hilariously mistaken or she was lying to us. It was a great epiphany.

I might've gone through a brief phase of wanting crustless bread, but it definitely didn't last. My grandfather also proclaimed the crust as the best part, and I'm sure I wanted to emulate him.

I was not really aware that this was a thing that people do. Super, another day of feeling completely disconnected from the rest of the populace.

Sidenote: no kids yet, but when I do and if they were to ask me to cut the crust off their sandwich I'd tell them "sure, but in exchange when you're birthday rolls around I'll be scraping all the frosting off your cake."

My parents were fond of saying that all the nutrients were in the crust.

My siblings liked them without crust, but I learned early on that you got your food faster if you just ate the crust. I also was the only one who would make my own sandwiches and wasn't allowed to use a knife.

When I was a kid my dad would actually use a heart cookie cutter to cut out the center of the sandwich, but send me to school with the whole sandwich. When he found out I was only eating the center and throwing out the rest he threatened to stop doing it, and thus I started eating the crust.

I'm with Mid C Frank...the heel of any bread is the best. Especially when toasted and buttered. My Dad and I would always grab those first. To this day I will reach to the other end of the bread to eat that when the front one is gone. I can't even understand why someone wouldn't eat bread crust.

Crust has the best taste in some breads. I don't do it with my nephews, if I ever have kids, I wont do it. They have teeth, they can eat around it if it really bothers them.

I wasn't too fond of sandwich bread crust but I was taught not to waste food. I think my grandma indulged me a few times for crustless sandwiches but she'd pack the crusts in a separate bag for me to munch on.

Ever since I can remember, I tended to "save the best for last." I'd rip off and eat the crusts, then savor the soft squishy innards.

We ate our crusts without much complaint, except my younger brother who hated them! According to my mom, if he ate his crusts, he'd have curly hair (we had straight). I didn't understand the logic but my brother ate most of his crusts yet alas, he never had curly hair. Moms are crafty and funny.

Back in the early 80's, when I was a little person, I was usually the only kid in the cafeteria with a whole grain bread sandwich, with natural chunky peanut butter, crusts on. As an adult, I only ever eat white bread. I don't eat it very often, but it's always soft, white bread. I do eat the crusts, as white crusts are quite a bit better than whole grain.

Depended on the sandwich, season and occasion.
Cucumber, crust off (this was for everybody)
Tomato or Cheese, Crust on
Jam and cheese, Crust on bottom slice, top slice crustless
Winter time, nearly always crust on because fillings were robust (chip butties? Crust definately ON)
Summer, depended on the sammie.
Birthdays? crusts off for Fairy Bread, on for cherrio rolls.

At diners in Hong Kong, they always cut the crust off their bleached white (but nostalgically yummy) bread...

My Dad says that crust is where all of the vitamins are or, alternately, that it puts hair on your chest (he has two daughters and this did not help).

MandarinMarie, same here.

To this day, even though I'm fully-grown and have the option to remove the crust from any darn sandwich I please, I just can't do it. I eat the crust portion first to get it out of the way, then enjoy the tender center portion last.

I never understood the cutting off of crusts. I was raised on good crusty bread--the crust was the best part and we used to fight over who got to eat the ends of the bread!

I love the crust on bread! Especially when bread is toasted.

When we sometimes bought pre-packaged sandwiches (in 70s England) they often had their crusts cut off. I think my immigrant family thought this was just how one was supposed to make sandwiches so it followed that many crusts were cut off when the rare sandwich was prepared at home. And those crust trimmings were chef's snacks for the sandwich maker, i.e. mom and granny.

Regular day-to-day sandwiches, no. Once in a while I'd say to my mom (I was very little when I did this), "I want tea sandwiches" and she would cut the crusts off my PB&J, and cut them into little triangles, for a treat. But I didn't push it!

The coolest sandwiches I remember from youth were made with pullman bread cut lengthwise in three layers, filled with different kinds of salads and then cut in slices, so it was almost like a piece of cake. A lady with a lot of time on her hands used to make these for cast parties of our community theater group.

I was always told to eat the crusts because they were good for me, too. I wised up pretty fast, but I still had to eat them. I'm 49 and I *still* take the crusts off my bread, and I even have a cookie cutter kind of thing that cuts off the crusts. I've thought about asking to have the crusts cut off when I order out, but I don't want to antagonize the cook, so I just do it myself. (All of this refers to white sandwich bread. I will eat the crust on artisan bread, although I might skip the bottom crust if it is too brown.)

Did anyone else's parents tell them that eating the crust would make your hair curly, or was that just my folks? (For what it's worth, I did always eat my breadcrusts and I've got rather curly hair, so it's CLEARLY true. :)

I made my own sandwiches as a kid. Never occurred to me to cut off the crust.

Yeha, I'm with others: wish there was an option for "no, because the crusts are perfectly fine so no one had any problem eating it." I was an obscenely picky kid (which I now regret so much), and even I had no problem with the crusts.

Growing up I was told that if you didn't eat your crust, you wouldn't be able to whistle. My brother didn't care about such nonsense, and always demanded his crusts be cut off. I, on other hand, always ate his crust castaways, whistling or not.

During the summer months, when corn on the cob was the thing, the heel of the bread was the perfect vessel for applying butter to the corn. Just butter the bread, and roll the ear around on it. Of course, despite the fact that the heel was mainly comprised of crust, it was the subject of many fights between my brother and I. I always suggested cutting it in half, but that was silly to him. I even used to try pointing out that it mainly crust, but he still wanted it anyways. Sometimes I won out though.

Neither! They didn't cut off the crusts, but I mainly just ate around them.

One time at school lunch a lady (I think someone's mom?) kindly told me I wouldn't go to heaven if I didn't eat my crusts. I was in like 3rd grade. WTF, crazy lady, WTF?

My brother was the only one in my family who'd remove the crust on sandwiches. The funny part was that he'd actually eat the crust, just not with his sandwich. He'd also get really mad if someone attempted to steal his crusts.

I just thought it was a waste of good bread if I removed the crust, and bread was always better than candy for me as a child.

I knew I'd get in trouble for wasting food, so the crusts were eaten. However, both my parents were well aware the fits that would be thrown should they dare to cut the sandwich straight down the middle - diagonal or nothing!

No. I was the exact opposite of a picky eater, and always wanted what the adults were eating, no matter how unfamiliar or odd-looking it was (at two I snatched grilled sea snails off the hibachi. My mother was worried I'd burn my hands or my mouth).

My mother did serve omuraisu and fried rice in shapes (heart shaped, mickey mouse head shaped) and always tried to make packed lunches attractive.

Nope, I preferred my crusts attached to my sandwich.

However (and forgive me if someone else has also noted this), my parents have that EXACT same plate/tray in the picture that my mother uses to microwave bacon (I swear, not as strange as it sounds). They've used it for over 30 years and I won't lie, it makes decent bacon without all the mess.

In Australia (some) people coat the crusts in Vegemite and Cheese then bake them in oven. The resulting snack is a homemade Rusks. Apparently good for teething toddlers.

My Mum never cut off the crusts. But that didn't mean that I ate them. No way did I want curly hair!

Never. That's where the flavor is.

It never occurred to me as a child to not eat the crusts.

Always liked the crust. It was strange for me that other kids didn't like it.