Alan wrote in message
...
On Wed, 19 May 2004 09:14:36 -0500, Olivers
wrote:

Opinicus extrapolated from data available...



Then you would have *loved* it when it was first introduced
on the market. Some states (mostly those with a strong
dairy-farming lobby) passed laws that prohibited margarine
manufacturers from dyeing their margarines yellow to
resemble butter. Have you ever seen undyed margarine? Its
color resembles the pallid skin of a recently dead person.
Margarine manufacturers got around this by putting a little
blob of dye inside the package. You kneaded the package to
work the dye into it. This was a task I was frequently given
as a kid.


For those of us who were kids during the war, margarine was the standard
and butter, rarely available in local markets, the exception. I have
contemporaries who, having grown up on margarine, actually find the
flavor
of real butter off-putting, and swear by Parkay and Bluebonnet.

Ah, Parkay and Bluebonnet!

I love butter, but during WWII, I begged to be the one to
knead the color into the white blob of margarine.

And, then, although we ran a dairy farm, we couldn't really
afford butter, so we lived on Parkay and Bluebonnet.

I'll have to buy some of each to see if I've really been
missing anything in all these years of eating butter!

You will need to be very careful. Most of what looks like margarine isn't.
Even Parkay and Bluebonnet. Check the package carefully to see if it
specifically mentions it is margarine or oleomargarine. Most of what is
available is actually fake margarine. Also keep in mind that margarines and
fake margarines (hydrogenated fats) are much worse for you than butter fat.

Charlie