Like most golf fans, I won’t be heading down to Augusta National this year for the Masters. Sad, I know, mostly because that means I won’t be able to eat one of those sweet, delicious pimento cheese sandwiches.
Or does it?
Ted Godfrey is a local food vendor and the original mastermind behind the famed pimento cheese sandwich. He was one of the last local food vendors to be let go by the Masters, according to ESPN’s Wright Thompson, who reported that Godfrey refused to share the secret ingredient to his pimento cheese recipe:
Eating the sandwiches has become as much a part of a trip to the Masters as seeing the blooming azaleas. Then, three or four years ago, the Wife Saver did the chicken sandwich for the last time, and as part of the same tournament initiative to handle concessions in-house, the restaurant stopped making the pimento cheese. Godfrey says he was the last local food vendor to be let go by the Masters. Now the sandwiches are different, because he won’t give them the missing ingredient. Augusta National declined to comment on cheese.
“I cannot tell you what the secret is,” he says. “But there’s a secret there.”
For a time, going to Ted’s restaurant in Augusta was the only way to get his delicious pimento cheese, but no more! That’s because the cheese mastermind recently hatched a deal with GoldBelly, a company that ships delicious local cuisines nationwide, to share his pimento with golf fans all over the country who can’t make it to Augusta this year. Bread isn’t included, and the cheese ships with ice packs every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday.
Warning: it’s not the most inexpensive cheese you’ll ever buy. Prices range form $49 to $89 depending on the amount of cheese you’re after, according to the website. (But shipping is free!) The order “also includes green plastic sandwich bags to truly recreate the Augusta experience,” which is a nice touch.
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