On 2014-12-12 2:51 PM, Brooklyn1 wrote:

>>> My mother totally bought into the healthier thing, but knowing her,
>>> the cheaper thing was a big factor, too. Not knocking her, just
>>> saying.
>>
>> Cheapness was a big factor in those days, and sometimes in these too.
>
> It's also regional... in Italy no one uses butter or margerine, they
> use lard and olive oil... in the US deep south bacon greeze rulz!
>

You are partly right. Cooking is regional. There are different types of
cooking in the different regions of Italy. They don't use much butter
in southern Italian cooking. They did not have large herds of beef
cattle. They had some milk production for cheese. There is a lot more
butter and dairy used in northern Italian cooking.