# Why is butter so much more delicious than margarine or other substitutes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 22, 2014, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-butter-so-much-more-delicious-than-margarine-or-other-substitutes/705368 "2014-11-22T22:39:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-butter-so-much-more-delicious-than-margarine-or-other-substitutes/705368/1 "2014-11-22T22:39:09Z")
I mean, considering the fact that you can slather margarine on whatever you’re eating, and it won’t be as tasty as if you’d used half as much butter. I’m not a butter snob, and I don’t mind using margarine if that’s all there is. In fact, when I was growing up, margarine was all we ever had in the house, as this was during the Cholesterol Panic of the 1960s and 70s. Today we usually have both butter and Smart Balance Original in the refrigerator. Although Smart Balance is obviously not butter, I’m not sure it it’s actually margarine or if it belongs to a third category of food. As the substitutes go, Smart Balance isn’t bad at all, and mimics the flavor of butter fairly well. Looking at both packages, I see that a single serving is considered to be one tablespoon, which in the case of butter is about a quarter-inch thick slice off the quarter pound stick. For the Smart Balance this works out to 80 calories, and for butter 100 calories, for both products all from fat. But here’s the thing: If it were possible to quantify the flavor, it seems to me that the butter would go several times as far as the substitute, on a per-calorie basis. On hot cereal, a tablespoon of butter seems to work better than three tablespoons of Smart Balance. Why is this? Is it because dairy fat is better at spreading itself evenly throughout whatever you’re cooking or eating ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-butter-so-much-more-delicious-than-margarine-or-other-substitutes/705368/2 "2014-11-22T22:52:05Z")
Look at the label on the SB, water will be the first listed. That’s why butter goes farther, it’s almost pure fat compared to almost half water of SB. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2014, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-butter-so-much-more-delicious-than-margarine-or-other-substitutes/705368/3 "2014-11-23T00:36:41Z")
So if SB could be somehow be packaged without all that water, it would have 160 calories per tablespoon instead of 80? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2014, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-butter-so-much-more-delicious-than-margarine-or-other-substitutes/705368/4 "2014-11-23T02:23:13Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Look at the label on the SB, water will be the first listed. That’s why butter goes farther, it’s almost pure fat compared to almost half water of SB. Right, and IIRC from our one disastrous experiment with it, you can’t freeze Smart Balance like you can butter or margarine. When it’s thawed out again, it dissociates and becomes a liquid mess of unmixed fats and water. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2014, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-butter-so-much-more-delicious-than-margarine-or-other-substitutes/705368/5 "2014-11-23T02:29:06Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > So if SB could be somehow be packaged without all that water, it would have 160 calories per tablespoon instead of 80? I think the hard part of making “reduced fat” spreads like Smart Balance is getting the water _into_ it. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2014, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-butter-so-much-more-delicious-than-margarine-or-other-substitutes/705368/6 "2014-11-23T02:56:11Z")
contented cows make all the difference. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2014, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-butter-so-much-more-delicious-than-margarine-or-other-substitutes/705368/7 "2014-11-23T03:15:44Z")
To me, butter smells rancid, so that effects my opinion of it. Give me margarine any time. ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2014, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-butter-so-much-more-delicious-than-margarine-or-other-substitutes/705368/8 "2014-11-23T03:22:35Z")
The same reason fat, sugar, meat, and just about anything else tastes better than non-nutritive substitutes: because your body is good at recognizing what mammals evolved over eons to crave in order to survive. ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2014, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-butter-so-much-more-delicious-than-margarine-or-other-substitutes/705368/9 "2014-11-23T04:03:33Z")
To me it isn’t. My grandmother made her own butter, which I’m sure I ate. But I developed an aversion to dairy products and became “picky.” The only cheese I eat is mozzarella on pizza. Ice cream causes me pain. During a strict diet I was told I had to add some fat so I tried margarine on potatoes and corn on the cob—and liked it! (in small amounts.) Later I thought I’d get some real butter because it’s healthier…how bland. About what beige would taste like. But I still like that yellow stick of margarine. It may be the chemicals I’m attracted to but I like it more than butter. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2014, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-butter-so-much-more-delicious-than-margarine-or-other-substitutes/705368/10 "2014-11-23T08:44:04Z")
I can’t stand margarine. Chemical slop is what it is. If you don’t want butter in your diet, substitute extra virgen olive oil. It’s healthy, natural, and flavorful. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2014, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-butter-so-much-more-delicious-than-margarine-or-other-substitutes/705368/11 "2014-11-25T15:23:52Z")
Butter has plenty of water in it, as well as casein and sugar. I know this from making ghee a lot. When butter is heated to the boiling point, the water exits from it as steam, which makes foam. Ghee requires removing _all_ the water, casein, and sugar, leaving only the pure butterfat, which is flavored by caramelization of the solids before decanting or filtering them out. I don’t know what Smart Balance is like, but for bread and toast I use Land O Lakes light butter, which also has some water added, and oil. It tastes to me as good as plain butter and it’s always soft, even when cold. For cooking I use unsalted butter butter. Or ghee. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-butter-so-much-more-delicious-than-margarine-or-other-substitutes/705368/12 "2014-11-26T16:03:17Z")
IMHO, it depends on how you’re using the butter (or butter substitute). To me, margarine tastes just as good, spread on toast, as butter does. (And you don’t have to fight to get the margarine out of the container.) But the difference between cooking an omelet in butter v. margarine is like the difference between sunshine and haze. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-butter-so-much-more-delicious-than-margarine-or-other-substitutes/705368/13 "2014-11-26T17:06:53Z")
At our home, we use that spreadable butter/canola oil stuff in a tub. It’s about half butter. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-butter-so-much-more-delicious-than-margarine-or-other-substitutes/705368/14 "2014-11-26T20:26:25Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > IMHO, it depends on how you’re using the butter (or butter substitute). > > To me, margarine tastes just as good, spread on toast, as butter does. (And you don’t have to fight to get the margarine out of the container.) But the difference between cooking an omelet in butter v. margarine is like the difference between sunshine and haze. It’s interesting because I feel the exact opposite way. Margarine on toast is awful. Margarine for cooking eggs/omelets is fine, because I can’t tell any difference between it and butter in that application. Anyway, one other idea for the OP: most butter is salted. Many of those low-cal substitutes are also designed for people on low-salt diets. When working with unsalted butter or spread, adding just a sprinkle of salt to things like toast can make a huge difference in the flavor. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2014, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-butter-so-much-more-delicious-than-margarine-or-other-substitutes/705368/15 "2014-11-27T04:56:11Z")
Because if you change one molecule of margarine, you get plastic. :rolleyes: