24 Comments

Oh, Team Butter, 100%!

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Butter really does taste better!

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I once had an assignment to write a case study about a margarine factory. It was one of the grossest experiences. I will spare the margarine eaters the details but my advice is stick with butter.

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Your reasoning is compelling! I'm morbidly curious to learn the inner workings of a margarine factory, though.

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Chiming in a bit late to the comment party here. Both of your memories are pretty accurate about our butter use while raising a family. Fun fact: we joined the corn oil margarine train after grandpa's first open-heart surgery in 1974, the year Erin was born, because (as was mentioned) the medical wisdom of the day said it was more heart healthy. Over the years, probably since the mid 1980s, we've come back to team butter, including the spreadable tub variety with olive oil and always sticks of butter for baking. I attribute your Dad's quadruple bypass surgery nearly 8 years ago more to genetics than to what he spreads on his toast.

I really enjoyed reading this post, Erin, and I appreciate how you include historical facts and photos to engage your readers. Margarine seems to provide evidence that necessity is truly the Mother of invention, but it might be a challenge to find hardened whale oil to make our own today!

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Thanks for chiming in, Mom! Really interesting to get the backstory on my recollection of a margarine-favoring childhood. Grandpa strictly followed that "heart healthy" diet-- I remember being disappointed when we were served "ice milk" instead of ice cream at Grandpa & Grandma's house.

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At Aldi this week the butter was cheaper than margarine.

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What sorcery is that?!

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My vegetarian wasteland years from 1989-2009 gave me more than my fill of "fake food". I'll stick with butter until the bitter, bitter end. I'll cut back on cheese, yogurt, and the "nice" toilet paper before I give up my butter.

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I admire your solid stand and willingness to sacrifice for butter. My vegetarian years were 1991-2003-- I agree there were some pretty gnarly fake foods during those years. One of the worst may have been soy cheese-- creepy how it didn't melt ever.

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I am confused! Butter with canola oil in plastic container doesn’t count as butter?

Also, we were not a family who used butter when we lived in Wisconsin! ( kids approx. 4 &1/2,3 ,and 1 & 1/2)! Oleo was cheaper but it was white! We had to mix it with a substance to make it yellow. I think Wisconsin is a dairy state!

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That's really interesting, Grandma! So you did buy oleo when you were a young married couple on a tight budget in the '50's (even though you lived in the dairy state). So strange that you had to add the coloring yourself! I also read that some margarine was pink?!

The thing with canola oil is that it's not supposed to be as healthy as olive oil...

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We buy Amish butter, with our local hardware store as the go-between. I have a condition that makes me super-sensitive to fakey foodstuff, so I can’t do margarine.

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It's great that you have farm-fresh butter locally available! Food sensitivities are no fun.

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Always butter for baking. My other half grew up similar to us…butter at grandmas and margarine at home. Since getting married I think I interchangeably buy spreadable butter and tubs of margarine depending on the deals at the store or what sounds good. As a result we are pretty balanced over here. We like both!!! When it comes to cutting costs I can definitely hang in the margarine club for as long as needed. Fun read. Especially loved the graphics.

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Thanks for reading and chiming in!

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Jan 2, 2023Liked by Erin

Butter reigns! But I need a specific margarine in my house due to food allergies. Plus, I use margarine in some cookies so they don't spread so much.

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You bought margarine back in the day though right? Cost cutter plus diet food etc?!? I will say that I have an earlier memory of butter entering my house growing up than my sister but it probably has to do with our age gap. We had butter for toast, etc. but probably only if we were not in a penny pinching month.

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You're likely right, sis-- my memories of mom's food stores wouldn't be so clear from the years after I moved out.

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You bring up 2 great points there. Having a readily available butter substitute is necessary for food allergies. And I've had to alter the butter measurements in baking recipes that call for margarine.

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Those delicious croutons were made with olive oil and......butter 🧈.

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Noooooo!! 😫

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Isn’t that technically baking?

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LOL, he could make that case!

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