The war on margarine | Hacker News Reader

The war on margarine

thefreemanonline.org

16 pointsAndrewDucker10 comments

Since my son is allergic (not intolerant, really allergic) to milk and dairy products, I have come to appreciate how strong the dairy industry is. There are milk proteins in tons and tons of manufactured products. I remember a discussion with someone at a baby cereal company who lectured me on how good milk is nutritious and good for your health even tough she already knew I was calling because dairy products are deadly in that particular case.

I am surprised we don't yet have a war on the soy cheese used on some frozen pizzas.

This is interesting, but margarine is (a) pretty gross, (b) culinarily less useful than butter (the milk solids in butter are put to use in a variety of systems), and (c) probably less healthy than butter because of trans-fats.

That is interesting, but butter is (a) pretty damn expensive and (b) contains milk solids which are an enormous problem for those who are lactose intolerant, (c) as to whether it is gross or not, can't say, but I think that is a PPP (personal perception problem) :)

Butter isn't very expensive - expensive is a highly relative term, and I spend less on butter on a rate of consumption over time basis than I do on bread, or milk, or cheese, or any other single staple alone.

What it is is delicious, and I won't do without it.

> butter ... contains milk solids which are an enormous problem for those who are lactose intolerant

And, by the way, so does fake butter, usually.

As someone who is lactose intolerant (and who has spent enormous amount of time reading food labels), I can assure you that the vast majority of butter substitutes sold in the U.S. contain some dairy. Sad, but true.

Most margarines sold around here don't have trans fats.

A review of the study that compares margarine and butter from the risk of heart disease point of view, and some more links at the end:

http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2009/10/butter-vs-marg...

In the nineteenth century, there were still many people who argued that certain organizations had a "right" to profit. An excellent read on this topic is Stanley Kutler's _Privilege and Creative Destruction: The Charles River Bridge Case_[0].

[0] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0801839831/ref=as_li_ss_tl?...

The last anti-margarine law in North America was only struck down in the last couple of years. The province of Ontario lasted until 1995, while Quebec's law was only repealed in 2008.

wow. i just learned a lot about margarine.

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