For eating on its own on plain bread, and for cooking I prefer butter.
Margarine I’ll have on hot toast so it melts, and in a pinch I’ll use it to cook but it’s not quite as good.
But nothing beats a slathering of butter on fresh, chewy bread.
Butter. If it’s good enough for Marlon Brando, it’s good enough for me.
(flexes thread-killing muscles)
Neither really. I haven’t spread them on bread since I was a teenager (except with vegemite) and use so little in cooking that I regularly throw out half used tubs that are going off. Both just seem greasy to me and there is always something else to spread for a sandwich - mustard, relishes, sauces, avacado, cream cheese etc.
Butter.
Butter.
I consider margarine to be a petroleum product, not food.
I use Olive Spread, which has all the benefits of not being full of cholesterol and being easy to spread (as well as having the Heart Foundation Big Tick Of Not Causing Immediate Coronary Arrest on it), and is closely related to Margarine.
Despite being born in a country whose very economy was based on Dairy Products, Wool, and Pretending To Be Part Of Australia, I can’t stand butter… it’s hard to spread, ruins the subtle taste of Marmite, and, worst of all, tears the bread or toasted prandible when you attempt to spread it.
For such crimes it has been banished from Enfield Manor, along with such other culinary abominations as Tomatoes, Corn (not the wheat kind, the other one), Mushrooms, and Diet Coke… 
[Ray McCooney]“Have ye heard of a thing called… Butterrrrrr?” Gold in colour, and slippery to the touch…"[Ray McCooney]
:eek: Marmite?
MARMITE?
You horrible, horrible man! I hereby revoke your right to be Australian. Nasty, nasty marmite. 
Seriously, how does the olive spread taste? I’ve never tried it, never been keen enough to. It scares me a little bit.
Butter
Only, Butter. Someone once told me margarine was one molecule away from being plastic and I can’t get it out of my head, aside from that butter tastes better.
flies don’t even seem to be attracted to margarine
next time, slap them about the face. the statement ‘margarine is one molecule away from being plastic’ is utterly meaningless; butter is one atom away from being uranium. (that atom being uranium itself).
That means you must be one of those Heretical Vegemites! Pistols At Dawn! Honour will be satisfied!
You know that stuff is made from Brewers Yeast, right?
Seriously though, the olive spreads are really, really nice- they work with all sandwiches, and give the filling just a bit of extra taste, without the oiliness or pastiness of Margarine, nor the unspreadability and artery-cloggery of butter (did I mention it was Gold in colour and slippery to the touch? ).
And it’s good for you, too- at least, as far as spreads go…
I am all about the butter! Margarine screws up too many baked goods, when you are cooking, to be useful. I must admit, however, that it is quite delicious on an Everything bagel with a drizzle of honey.
Blech. Salted butter is just as bad as margarine. Nothing beats unsalted butter though.
Not if you use a butter bell and keep your butter soft.
Our spoilsport doctor steered us away from butter, however…
All but one margarine is boring to the tongue, and they’re loaded with hydrogenated trans-fats (more dangerous than butter’s cholesterol.) The one exeption is Smart Balance Buttery Spread. It has no trans-fats, and it tastes really good.
For baking, though. there is no substitute for butter.
Butter. And don’t cross me about it either.
Mr2U and I argued about this last night. I was making cheese hot dogs (hot dogs split in half with cheese in the middle - then you cook them in a frying pan till the cheese is all melty) and cut off a pat of butter for the skillet. He says, “Why are you using BUTTER? It’s so EXPENSIVE!!!” I calmly responded, “No, frankly, it ISN’T when I buy it on sale for $2 a pound then FREEZE IT you dipshit!”
Use margarine to make my dinner?? I THINK NOT.
Then I told him what he could do with his “Country Crock”.
I recently bought SmartBalance to spread on toast as a concession to a certain gentleman who’d like to keep me around longer. It doesn’t taste anywhere near as good. As a result, I’ve got nice, soft butter in the butter dish next to the toaster, and a few more sticks in the refrigerator for baking.
Out of curiousity, though, how’s Smart Balance as a substance for cooking chops and chicken in? How does it compare to butter, canola oil, olive oil, etc.?
Butter all the way!
SB is a blend of oils (palm fruit, soybean, canola, and olive) so the smoke point is higher than butter. You’d need a higher temp to get that nutty brown flavor. It does cook well, though. When I saute, I usually use exvirg olive oil, but I’ve used Smart Balance a few times for stir-fry, where I use a higher temperature.
Try it, see what you think.
Butter.
Margarine is nearly taste-free to me, compared to butter.
When I was a little kid, I didn’t understand the difference between butter and margarine, because even though it said “Margarine” on the package, my family called it “butter”; I never knew the reason rolls/bread and butter tasted better at Grandma’s house was because she used real butter. I thought I just wasn’t using enough “butter” on my bread at home.
My family still calls both butter and margarine “butter” so I always have to clarify “real butter or fake butter?” And then get called a “picky eater”.
You’ve gotta keep butter in the fridge here or else it goes off surprisingly quickly, and when you refrigerate butter, it becomes unspredable.
I don’t like the taste, so it’s a moot point anyway- but margarine in the US must be some totally different substance to the stuff we’ve got here, because the fridge space devoted to both of them here is about the same, and they both sell very well (needing filling up every other day or so)…
I think you’re missing the point. Being exposed to light and air and the nasties therein is what causes butter to go rancid. The Butter Bell and other such “French butter dishes” protect the butter from exposure to light and air. The water in the bowl helps regulate the temperature. These combine to give butter a shelf life of a up to a month on the counter. But if you can’t use a stick of butter within a week to 10 days, then you might as well keep it in the frig and soften it in the microwave when you want soft butter.