if you wonder why they are trying to jazz up margarine and go store to store doing PR and marketing, there once was a butter vs margarine war in Canada and the USA
My Father told me that the original margarines were white. They came with a packet of yellow dye that you had to mix in yourself. At that time the producer was banned from coloring the margarine to look like butter.
My parents were co-conspirators with three or four other couples in the Milwaukee area, circumventing the ruthless margarine laws of Wisconsin. Every once in a while one of the group would drive to the Illinois border and load their car up with yellow margarine, all of which was shared with the other subversives. The practice was probably not cost effective though, as in time my mom and dad started bringing the plastic bag of white stuff with the coloring bubble inside from the super market.
Yep. All the stores and gas stations just across the Wisconsin border had huge signs declaring they sold OLEO. By the way, buying bulk and splitting among friends and family was common, but illegal! To this day Wisconsin restaurants serve butter but are required to have margarine for customers who ask.
I've been living in Montreal for the last 16 years now (SoCal native), and until 5 years ago margarine in Quebec had to be white (Apparently Quebeckers were too stupid to know butter from margarine) AND bringing yellow margarine into Quebec was illegal!
My Father told me that the original margarines were white. They came with a packet of yellow dye that you had to mix in yourself. At that time the producer was banned from coloring the margarine to look like butter.
ReplyDeleteGreggBC is right. In Wisconsin it was still banned with coloring until some time in the late 1970's. After all, Wisconsin is a big dairy state.
ReplyDeleteMy parents were co-conspirators with three or four other couples in the Milwaukee area, circumventing the ruthless margarine laws of Wisconsin. Every once in a while one of the group would drive to the Illinois border and load their car up with yellow margarine, all of which was shared with the other subversives. The practice was probably not cost effective though, as in time my mom and dad started bringing the plastic bag of white stuff with the coloring bubble inside from the super market.
DeleteYep. All the stores and gas stations just across the Wisconsin border had huge signs declaring they sold OLEO. By the way, buying bulk and splitting among friends and family was common, but illegal! To this day Wisconsin restaurants serve butter but are required to have margarine for customers who ask.
ReplyDeleteI've been living in Montreal for the last 16 years now (SoCal native), and until 5 years ago margarine in Quebec had to be white (Apparently Quebeckers were too stupid to know butter from margarine) AND bringing yellow margarine into Quebec was illegal!
ReplyDelete