Margarine Memories
I was walking through the butter section at the grocery store over the weekend and grabbed a box of unsalted Tillamook butter. My favorite. I stopped and looked as if it was the first time I had ever really looked at all of the butter products available. Some old and some new, it dawned on me how many commercials for margarine I saw growing up. I guess I don't watch that much TV anymore but I don't think there are that many margarine commercials anymore?
As a child of the 70s, I remember all of the marketing behind the margarine commercials. Then-as we went into the 80s and 90s margarine turned into commercials of "butter substitutes". These were suppose to taste even more like real butter. As for me butter has no substitute. Bring on the real stuff!
It is so interesting to stop once and while and realize how food marketing affects what we chose to eat. My memories of all of those old commercials helped me to see its impact on our food culture. Some of these brands still exist.
Here are some of the brands:
Parkay (We all have to remember this one!)
Fleischmann's
I Can't Believe its Not Butter! (Fabio)
Imperial
Blue Bonnet
Land O' Lakes (Who could forget that folding trick people use to do to that packaging!)
Country Crock
Promise
Nucoa (Here is a 1937 vintage poster urging readers to contact their Congressmen in opposition to the proposed margarine tax. It was proposed to protect the butter market. "Don't tax the spread on people's bread!")
Do you have any more of these margarine memories? Please tell.
-Fer
posted by Fer at 8:45 PM
6 Comments:
My family did not have very much money while I was growing up - I don't remember ever having actual butter in the house. It was always margarine. In fact, I don't think I ever had a cookie made with real butter until I went away to college and a friend made some. I will always choose butter over margarine - I can't even remember the last time I had margarine. There's nothing like real butter!!
It is absolutely best to fry most food with oil(corn oil, sunflower oil, soy oil, canola oil) together with butter.
When it comes to baking, well, if the recipe calls for margarine and butter isn´t mentioned, I use margarine. But I would never substitute butter for margarine in a recipe.
i don't frequently use either butter or margarine nowadays, to be perfectly honest, so it's not an issue that often comes up, but, growing up, i always preferred margarine. maybe i lack a discerning palate, but i never thought butter tasted any better, and margarine melts so much faster, which can come in handy. the revelation that they use all manners of unpleasant trans-fats to give stick-margarine its shape kind of killed the love for me, though. nevertheless, when i was in college i opted for the 69-cent pound of margarine over butter, which cost four times as much.
My parents were sure margarine was better for us, so it was all we ate as kids. I still like it spread on saltines...LOL. I can't believe I admitted that.
Awesome post.
Country Crock commercials used to air during my favorite cartoons. Those sweet brown tubs still make me feel at home. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the quippy offscreen couple spread Country Crock on their morning muffins, and I believe the man had a fantastically buttery voice.
I love that you all identified with this post! I love your comments and memories! Thanks for sharing.
It made me laugh as I was walking down that butter asile thinking about doing this post-I hoped that someone would appreciate my silly thoughts of Margarine!
Thanks everyone!
-Fer
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