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Late last year, while attending an elephant polo tournament in Thailand (that’s no joke; see here), I had the pleasure of meeting Christian Litz, who is a layman expert on the little-known (but very real) historical power-struggle between margarine and butter in Germany. I asked him some questions on the topic, which I reprint in Q&A form here:
Rolf Potts: Just to establish things for the home audience, what is the difference between butter and margarine?
Christian Litz: Butter is made from cow milk, margarine is made of fat. In older days this meant fat from dead animals, but now it usually means fat from corn, soybeans, or peanuts. There is also artificial fat that comes from oil or coal.
RP: Are Germans particularly fond of margarine? Or do they prefer butter?
CL: The butter-margarine issue has divided German society for a long time. We are rather psychotic in this regard. Back in the time of the Kaiser, the use of butter versus margarine was an expression of social status — and in some respects that sentiment lasts to this day. Two years ago, a man killed his wife because they could not afford butter. He said, “We lost our money, we couldn
August 19th, 2003 at 1:48 pm
The issue isn’t margarine versus butter. The issue is trans-fatty acids which are indigestible and totally non-nutritive. Practically all margarine is made almost completely of trans-fatty acids. What is a trans-fatty acid? They take almost any kind of liquid vegetable oil, heat it to about 700 degrees, and pump hydrogen gas into it. The chemical structure changes. It becomes semi-hard at room temperature, like butter rather than liquid, and it beomes indigestible and non-nutritive at that point. No animal feed producer in the world uses any trans-fatty acid products (hydrogenated veg. oils) in their feed since it is not nutritive. It would be better to use it as axle grease, or as a n industrial lubricant. It is actually poisonous and destroys vit. E. in the body. I personally think hydro. veg. oils are the main cause of poor health around the world. Should be illegal!
There are a handful of margarines made without it, such as “New Balance”. Most of the “health food margarine” is BAD - just like the stuff in reg. stores.
Better to use olive oil or cow’s butter ghee - ghee doesn’t go sour or cause problems in the gut - excellent for good digestion.
August 25th, 2003 at 2:15 am
Butter tastes better, but if I can have the Spanish twat, I’ll choke down margerine.
October 7th, 2003 at 8:09 am
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO SPOIL??!??!!
December 20th, 2003 at 7:08 am
First of all, you’ve mistaken the 1900s for the 19th century…
Secondly, Bill Carroll, as stated at http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m0813/10_28/80485403/p4/article.jhtml?term= :
“In the studies, most of the fat the people ate came from Smart Balance. But in the real world, people will use Smart Balance (or any other spread) as part of a diet that also gets fats, especially saturated fats, from poultry, meat, cheese, and other foods. So buying a spread with the “right balance” may not make as much sense as buying a spread that’s high in mono- or polyunsaturated fat, which will counter (or balance) the fats in a typical American diet.
That said, Smart Balance is still a good choice. It’s just one of many.
And Smart Balance’s “no trans fatty acids … naturally” may sound more impressive than it is. Like Promise, Smart Balance replaces trans fat with saturated fat (in this case, from palm oil). There isn’t enough palm oil to raise cholesterol, but adding palm oil is no more natural than adding lard.”
Thirdly, butter is much higher in saturated fat than margarine in trans fat, which is considered less harmful than saturated fat by most of the resources I’ve been coming across.
STICK WITH TUB MARGARINE, PEOPLE. OR BETTER, USE “SPREADS”. Even better than spreads are the sprays… They have less trans-fatty acids.
http://www.hhp.ufl.edu/keepingfit/ARTICLE/buttermartrans.htm for more…
May 23rd, 2006 at 1:15 pm
I was impressed that this information was available through Google. Congrats.
February 13th, 2007 at 9:14 am
i woule like to know why they say becel margerine with oliveoil is so good for you and why you know its not, please let me know be cause my husband has high col. and needs to watch?????????
January 13th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
If you’re vegan then go for cold-pressed seed, nut, veg etc oils.
If you’re vegetarian then demand proper dairy farming where the male animals are not murdered, but are utilised for breeding, ploughing perhaps, wools, fertiliser production, grazing of crop rotated land, and so forth - even transportation, say if they are camels.
October 8th, 2008 at 9:57 am
Butter is far better and more healthier. However margarine is vegetal so it has a lower calory ratio.