Why I love the Publix Sub

Florida summers test your will to live. Life in a sauna infested with mosquitoes and turtle-paced tourists is not always a joy.

But a chilled supermarket takes the edge off.

As a third-generation Floridian and lifelong glutton, fried chicken tenders on a submarine roll are what makes Publix and America great.

Pub Subs are divined amalgams that cure you of all that ails you during the dog days: Air conditioning, convivial “Boy, it’s hot out there” talk and the ambrosia that is a proper sandwich.

Do what you want with the deli counter’s arsenal of options, but I offer my version of the buffalo chicken tender Pub Sub. It is a juxtaposition of still-softening Swiss cheese combined with onions warming from the steam of just-cut tenders. It’s paired with the refreshing crisp bite of bell peppers and garlic pickles. Heed my warning: Don’t fall for bread-and-butter pickles that are the default to the deli-craftspeople. The Boar’s Head garlic pickles are worth the ask — remember, Picasso didn’t use a RoseArt kit.

When getting the buffalo chicken tender, you must request the sub artist chop your chicken tenders, place them in a bag and toss them in buffalo sauce before allowing them to grace your roll.

Sure, you’ll get cross looks and feel the heated gaze of a mom just trying to do her best on a dinner deadline. FORGET THEM. You’re about to chow down so hard it doesn’t even matter.

When it’s done, make haste; the moments that highlight the difference in temperature between the hot chicken and cold vegetables are fleeting.

There’s only one forum for enjoying a sandwich as glorious as this: the coastal cathedrals that are Florida’s beaches. Many a Pub Sub has met its fate by my hand with my bum in the sand.

My Norman Rockwell image of a Florida summer is a series of paintings depicting me heading to the beach and inhaling Pub Subs as I offer my skin as sacrifice to the pitiless Florida sun.

When I’m satiated and my hands are covered in the spoils of my sandwich, it only makes sense for me to wash my hands in the water, sending one of the best parts of living in this state into another.

Because Pub Subs are a Florida summer.