Margarine

Until not all that long ago (in my lifetime, anyway), there was a lot of false information out there about cholesterol. Respected experts believed that cholesterol in became blood cholesterol, and it became government policy, and was considered conventional wisdom. Dairy products also cost a lot more than non-dairy alternatives a few decades ago. People my age grew up largely eating margarine. Butter was something expensive and decadent and to be eaten in moderation. A whole generation got used to it. Most of us wised up and moved to butter. I still see a lot of people using various non-dairy alternatives now, but when I was younger, it was ubiquitous. Margarines taste a lot better now than they used to, too, so it was worse than you might imagine. Mixing meat and dairy isn't kosher, so there are cultural reasons keeping it around as well.

I prefer butter, but I leave it in the fridge and if I want to spread something on my bread in a snap without thawing the butter, I use margarine instead. It's just another spread variant. I don't understand the margarine hate.

Well, it's:

* cheaper

* maybe healthier (lower saturated fat)

* lower climate impact (no dairy farming required)

That last point is why I've recently switched to spreadable butter, which is roughly half butter, half rapeseed oil, and a little water (and none of the ultra-processed weird stuff that goes into margarine).

The main reason is cost (here at least)

Margarine is significantly cheaper than butter in my country.

In parts of Canada, you can get a close to 1 gallon container of margarine for the same price as 1 standard block of butter.

I can't remember why butter was considered bad back in the 80's, but margarine was proudly proclaimed. I've been eating butter for so long that I was surprised recently to see they are very niche now and don't put the margarine name up there front and center anymore.

I remember butter being one of those foods to be avoided and margarine somehow being a substitute, but I can't remember why. Anyone?

It's interesting to see over the decades fat and salt becoming less demonized and sugar being viewed as more problematic. One of my arguments against those who wish for a command economy and trust in the government is the food triangle which has...changed a bit faster than humans have.

Both butter and margarine are useless, empty calories. No vitamins and minerals. There's a daily budget of calories, and it's better to spend it on foods with nutrients, not just pure fat or pure sugar. Better fat sources are whole foods - seeds, nuts and maybe animal foods.

>There is even halvarine, which is twice as bad.

It's a good option. Still has taste and feel, but less empty calories, and you can spread only a thin layer, easier than with butter.

Some people like butter but don't want/can't eat dairy. That's just one reason.

I grew up on margarine, butter always tasted a bit too rich for me, but I've started using it again because I don't each much of either and I've heard margarine is terrible for you, but I don't know much about it.

Same here. Margarine was something inflicted on us by parents. I didnt touch the horrible thing the day I moved out of my mothers house. Margarine, and the lack of creative pasta sauce are the two food related things I shudder when thinking about childhood. All we haad as sauce at home was damn bolognese. So I havent touched both since I moved out.

> Why do people eat margarine?

True fact: because it tastes better.

On the one side you have cows and churning and maybe some salt.

On the other side you have a century of food scientists mastering the process of making things taste like we want them to taste, not merely beholden to the product that happens to fall out when you shake some cream long enough, who are able to produce something that better captures the essential nature of butter in the mind's eye...er, mouth. Margarine tastes more buttery than butter ever can.

Textual explication of a few (possibly fake) margarine reviews, which the author pretends to take at face value.

It's what they call postmodernism, I think.

Whatever you eat, as long as you are feeling good and are in good shape and in good health, you were right to eat what you want.

Butter has been eaten everyday by people who died from cholesterol and by people who lived for 100+ years.

Nothing we eat is inherently bad. It’s the mix and proportions that can be bad. The real issue is that with industrial food, we don’t control (or even feel) the mix anymore.

In France, in « Bretagne », butter and fat is everywhere in the traditional food since centuries and that never caused the same issues as industrial food. Because when you know what you eat, you eat the right proportions.

Steamed potatoes + butter + salt is one of the best things in life. So is a good baguette with butter. I don't eat butter every day and usually cook sautés in olive oil. But no more butter would be utterly sad.

I don't know. It's too early to decide. Food science is really hard. You don't have any good measurements, just questionnaires and people lying in them or completely miss-judging their consumption.

There are some exceptions but even then (ward experiments, controlled feeding studies, etc.) you often have very low number os participants and other limitations.

Unfortunately, in Europe (at least in the UK and Germany) butter seems to have skyrocketed in price over the last few months, whereas margarine has stayed the same.

Ghee is just butter reduced to almost pure fat. I just like the taste of butter and always have, and the taste comes from many things in the butter that get removed. I'm not sure you can spread ghee since it's very solid (although possibly when it warms up you can, I just never tried it).