From each according to ability. To each according to need. Different stuff for different purposes/ingredients. Mayo is contraindicated when making Spam salad, for example. But I would never use Miracle Whip in my deviled eggs. Both live in harmony in my fridge. Along with Heinz salad cream.
I actually use both mayo and MW in my tartar sauce.
How are you supposed to use Miracle Whip? I’ve only ever seen it used for salads (the potato salad or chicken salad type of salad, not green salads) or as a sandwich spread. Mayonnaise is also used for those reasons.
My parents used Miracle Whip for all of those things on your list. It’s what I was brought up with. After I moved out and discovered actual mayonnaise [NB: Of course fast foods had mayo when I was growing up] I found that Miracle Whip was not as good as mayonnaise on most sandwiches, and not as good in the mixed salads.
So what do I use it for? I’ve already said SPAM® salad sandwiches. I normally use mayonnaise, but Miracle Whip would be good on deviled ham (or ‘potted meat product’) sandwiches. It’s also good on Buddig (brand) beef sandwiches. All of those are salty, so the sweetness works. I also like it as a ‘salad dressing’ on avocados.
My earlier point was that if people grew up on mayonnaise, and then eat Miracle Whip on a sandwich that should be made with mayonnaise, then they’re probably not going to like it. (Plus there’s the generational/cultural thing where people hate things they’re ‘supposed to hate’ – like SPAM® – without giving it a fair chance.)
In the past decade or two, MW has gotten sweeter, to the point that it has become too sweet for me. If salad cream is even sweeter 
I doubt there’s any appreciable amount of paprika in MW.
It’s simple. If you grew up in a mayo household, you use mayo. If you grew up in a Miracle Whip household hold, you use Miracle Whip. The two household will use their preferred spread the same way, but will absolutely turn their nose up at the other one. Two households alike in dignity, so to speak.
Objectively mayo is oilier and saltier than MW, and MW is sweeter and has a slight vinegar tang. I have compared ingredients, and ISTM, that MW is basically pickled sweetened mayo. They have basically the same texture.
Heheh, I grew up in a Miracle Whip household, but can’t stand the stuff today. If it’s gotta have that type of substance in it, mayo for me. Duke’s if you have it.
I grew up in a Miracle Whip household, and I grew up believing I didn’t like mayo, because as a kid I didn’t realize Miracle Whip and mayo were different. It turns out I just don’t like Miracle Whip, and at some point as an adult I discovered I do actually like mayo.
Yep, me too. I grew up thinking that Miracle Whip was just a specific type of mayo my mom preferred to buy.
Then I went away to college, and bought my own groceries. So many things were revealed to me through that.
I haven’t used Miracle Whip in ages, but I remember it being a staple when I was growing up. Can’t remember if there was any difference in how either were used. My standard until recently was Kraft Mayo with olive oil, but then I started using Duke’s mayonnaise and can detect a difference in the flavor from Kraft. Perhaps I’m influenced by its motto “It’s got Twang!”
I’ve heard of it, but it’s not available here so I’ve never tasted it. Best Foods mayonnaise is the best out here.
My first time in New Orleans we drove by a building proclaiming Blue Plate Mayonnaise. It confused me because it sounded like there was a restaurant that had a mayonnaise-based blue plate special. I had no idea it was an actual brand. Actually, I don’t think it ever occurred to me that there were other mayos than Best Foods and Kraft.
Hehehe, when I read “Best Foods” I thought, “Has this guy never heard of Hellman’s? What’s this Best Foods business?”
Turns out they’re the same thing, and I’d only heard of one of them.
And their ad jingle in certain markets is "Bring out the Hellman’s and bring out the best!
Duke’s rules!
IMO Every packaged food has gotten sweeter. I’d swear there’s more sugar in modern salad dressings than there was in 1960s ice cream toppings. Blech!
Rather than “Bring out the Best Foods and bring out the best!” which was the jingle I grew up with in SoCal. Which jingle actually made sense in a typical 1960s Madison Avenue punny = memorable sort of way.
I was traveling somewhere with my family back east in my tweens and saw Hellman’s in a grocery store. The package trade dress was otherwise identical to the familiar Best Foods and I was mystified until Mom (who grew up in Chicago) explained it was the same stuff. Which blew my 12yo mind.
Of course now here in FL it’s “Hellmans”. It still looks wrong to me 50 years later. The jingle would sound all wrong with Hellman’s in there too. I hope they’re not still using it.
When I grew up with Best Foods mayo every jar had in small print on the back label, If you’re from east of the Rockies you know it as Hellman’s. It’s the same, fine product! Didn’t Hellman’s do the same thing the other way around?
It’s been available in Seattle for a year or two now. I’ve seen it at Amazon Fresh and at least one other regular grocery store.
Hehehe, I didn’t know. But I looked up the back label of a jar of Hellman’s, and there’s a similar message.
Carl’s Jr. vs Hardee’s. Short fat butter sticks vs. long skinny ones. There’s some interesting west/east divides in the US.
Although for both Hellmans / Best Foods and Carl’s Jr / Hardee’s what really happened was two regional champions grew in different regions and eventually as national holding company giant conglomerate corps became commonplace one brand bought the other, or both were sold by their founders to a third party.
So the dual names continue to exist because consumers are stupid and the name has huge name recognition value. Even if the recipes behind that name are quickly first converged and then (optionally) enshittified.
Wiki sez the Hellman’s / Best Foods combination occurred back in 1927. So “forever ago” for every living Doper.
The Carl’s Junior / Hardee’s combination occurred in 1997 after almost all Dopers were middle aged.
Dreyer’s and Edy’s, too.
(There also Breyers, but they’re completely unrelated.)
Salad cream is not sweet.