# Butter Or Margarine? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 25, 2006, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-or-margarine/362070 "2006-06-25T11:14:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bobotheoptimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-or-margarine/362070/21 "2006-06-25T17:23:59Z")
Margarine - butter tastes weird. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-or-margarine/362070/22 "2006-06-25T17:27:51Z")
Butter; and it’s a proven fact that Margarine is only one atom away from a syphlitic wombat’s jizz. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-or-margarine/362070/23 "2006-06-25T17:44:47Z")
The first thing I did when I graduated and got a real job was to chuck out the tub of I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter I’d been using and buy some Hooray It’s Finally Real Butter! I’ll never go back. ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-or-margarine/362070/24 "2006-06-25T18:45:00Z")
People _eat_ margarine? Why? Butter is delicious and wonderful, and almost as good as duck fat for frying potatoes. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-or-margarine/362070/25 "2006-06-25T18:49:33Z")
[QUOTE=Suburban Plankton] Butter. I can’t recall purchasing margarine even once since we got married (13 years). [/QUOTE] You’re quite right. No margarine in the **Plankton/8404** household. Ick. Yuck. I forbid it! ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-or-margarine/362070/26 "2006-06-25T19:22:36Z")
I’ve eaten margarine all my life. Butter tastes strangely sweet to me. I really don’t like it very much. ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-or-margarine/362070/27 "2006-06-25T19:32:27Z")
Butter. Margarine is ok in recipes, but on toast or biscuits or corn on the cob, Butter just plain tastes better. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-or-margarine/362070/28 "2006-06-25T19:52:09Z")
Margarine, mostly. Only because refrigerated butter is like granite, and it’s very difficult to spread granite on your toast. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-or-margarine/362070/29 "2006-06-25T19:55:40Z")
There is no reason for margarine to exist. Butter forever! ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-or-margarine/362070/30 "2006-06-25T20:51:23Z")
Butter. I had a recipe a few weeks ago that absolutely required margarine, so I bought some, but I felt kinda gross about it. I try to eat wholesome, non-frankenized foods. I’d rather eat less of the real thing - nothing I eat is “low fat” or fooled-around-with, if I can avoid it. ---
**Author:** ![IGJoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/igjoe/32/5420_2.png) [@IGJoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IGJoe)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-or-margarine/362070/31 "2006-06-25T20:59:16Z")
[QUOTE=Lemur Catta] Margarine, mostly. Only because refrigerated butter is like granite, and it’s very difficult to spread granite on your toast. [/QUOTE] **Lemur Catta** , allow me to introduce you to the [Butter Boat](http://www.cookstreetinc.com/welcome.php). Butter Boat, Lemur Catta; Lemur Catta, Butter Boat. Now you two go off and live Happily Ever After. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-or-margarine/362070/32 "2006-06-25T21:05:36Z")
Margarine is evil-tasting stuff that’s not even any better for you. Why on earth do people suffer unnecessarily? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-or-margarine/362070/33 "2006-06-25T21:18:23Z")
I’ve said this before, but I think margarine in the USA must generally be a different, and inferior, product to those available here in the UK. I consider myself a bit of a foodie - I like butter, but margarine actually isn’t at all bad; I often find that cakes made with butter only taste too rich - almost ‘cheesy’. I simply don’t understand why margarine gets such a bad rap as being ‘artificial’; it is by no means alone, or even anywhere near the worst offender in the category, especially in the USA, if my understanding of available groceries is not entirely flawed. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-or-margarine/362070/34 "2006-06-25T21:24:23Z")
Butter, except in cookies I will often use 1/2 butter, 1/2 margarine. Butter for flavor, and margarine for texture. ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-or-margarine/362070/35 "2006-06-25T21:41:56Z")
Butter, always butter. Mom buys margerine, and she does the baking, but I don’t ask which she uses (sometimes she does use butter though, because butter is just better in the recipe… like shortbread) ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-or-margarine/362070/36 "2006-06-25T23:04:42Z")
[QUOTE=IGJoe] **Lemur Catta** , allow me to introduce you to the [Butter Boat](http://www.cookstreetinc.com/welcome.php). Butter Boat, Lemur Catta; Lemur Catta, Butter Boat. Now you two go off and live Happily Ever After. [/QUOTE] Hell, we just leave it out on a plate. Butter won’t go bad on you for quite some time, and we go through it pretty fast. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-or-margarine/362070/37 "2006-06-25T23:15:42Z")
[QUOTE=Chefguy] Hell, we just leave it out on a plate. Butter won’t go bad on you for quite some time, and we go through it pretty fast. [/QUOTE] We have a covered butter dish that we got for $4.00 at WalMart. We have some in the butter dish all the time. But like you, we use it quickly enough that it’s never been a problem. In the hottest summer months, sometimes we put it in the butter dish a half stick at a time. ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-or-margarine/362070/38 "2006-06-25T23:18:59Z")
Butter. My mother used to buy margerine, under the impression that it wa shealthier for us. When I started buying my own groceries, I switched to butter. I’ve never looked back. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2006, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-or-margarine/362070/39 "2006-06-26T05:37:51Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] I’ve said this before, but I think margarine in the USA must generally be a different, and inferior, product to those available here in the UK. I consider myself a bit of a foodie - I like butter, but margarine actually isn’t at all bad; I often find that cakes made with butter only taste too rich - almost ‘cheesy’. I simply don’t understand why margarine gets such a bad rap as being ‘artificial’; it is by no means alone, or even anywhere near the worst offender in the category, especially in the USA, if my understanding of available groceries is not entirely flawed. [/QUOTE] I honestly doubt there is much if any difference in our margarines and believe a lot of the enmity is hyperbolic. Or at least I hope so. If people actually feel this strongly about butter vs. margarine or whether or not ketchup belongs on a hot dog, then I am at a total loss. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2006, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-or-margarine/362070/40 "2006-06-26T06:43:41Z")
[QUOTE=Chefguy] Hell, we just leave it out on a plate. Butter won’t go bad on you for quite some time, and we go through it pretty fast. [/QUOTE] Yeah, we keep ours on the counter in a covered butter dish. Keeps the dust off. The worst that happens is sometimes in the summer it gets hot in the house and gets kinda melty. Only raw (unpasturized) butter must be kept in the fridge. But even that can set out for an hour or so to soften. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-or-margarine/362070.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butter-or-margarine/362070.md?page=3)