While George Washington Carver was presumed to be the inventor of peanut butter, the National Peanut Board tells us that he actually had nothing to do with the spread, though Carver is well-recognized for his work with peanut plants. The true inventor of peanut butter -- or at least, a peanut paste -- was Marcellus Gilmore Edson, a Canadian chemist who patented his invention in 1884. In 1895, another character familiar with foodstuffs, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg patented his own peanut butter made from raw peanuts
As the National Peanut Board explains, there is a theory that a physician in St. Louis developed peanut butter as sort of a protein substitute for his older patients, who in their old age, had lost most of their teeth and were unable to chew. The peanut spread would provide the protein they would be missing from a now-meatless diet. In 1904, peanut butter made its official debut at the World's Fair in St. Louis, thus beginning peanut butter's role as a beloved American spread for years to come.