tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/margarine-8359/articlesMargarine – The Conversation2020-11-13T14:00:17Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1470692020-11-13T14:00:17Z2020-11-13T14:00:17Z200 years ago, people discovered Antarctica – and promptly began profiting by slaughtering some of its animals to near extinction<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/363986/original/file-20201016-23-n65p2x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C9%2C3072%2C1945&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Workmen dissecting a whale carcass in Antarctica, circa 1935</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/workmen-dissecting-a-whale-carcass-in-antarctica-news-photo/3310716">Hulton Archive via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Two hundred years ago, on Nov. 17, Connecticut ship captain <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/210532">Nathaniel Palmer spotted the Antarctic continent</a>, one of three parties to do so in 1820. Unlike explorers Edward Bransfield and Fabian von Bellingshausen, Palmer was a sealer who quickly saw economic opportunity in the rich sealing grounds on the Antarctic Peninsula.</p>
<p>In the two centuries since, Antarctica has seen a range of commercial, scientific and diplomatic developments. While <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/frozen-empires-9780190249144?cc=us&lang=en&">some countries attempted to claim territory on the continent</a> in the first half of the 20th century, today the region is governed through the international <a href="https://www.ats.aq/index_e.html">Antarctic Treaty System</a>. </p>
<p>Although the treaty claims to govern Antarctica in the interests of all “mankind,” some countries have gained greater benefits from the region than others. While mining is currently banned under the Antarctic Treaty and the days of sealing and whaling are over, Antarctica’s marine living resources are still being exploited to this day.</p>
<h2>Fur and blubber</h2>
<p>Palmer was followed by a rush of other sealing ships, mostly from the United States and Britain, that methodically killed fur seals along Antarctic beaches, <a href="https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000684110">swiftly taking populations to the brink of extinction</a>. Seal fur was used for clothing in the 18th and 19th centuries in many parts of the world and was an important part of <a href="https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=27054">U.S. and European trade with China</a> in the 19th century.</p>
<p>Fur sealing had a real boom-and-bust quality. Once a region was picked over, the sealers would move to more fruitful grounds. Before 1833, at least <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Sealing_in_the_Southern_Oceans_1788_1833.html?id=kkyfuAAACAAJ">7 million fur seals were killed in the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic</a>. As early as 1829, British naturalist James Eights lamented the loss of the fur seal on the Antarctic peninsula: “<a href="https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000684110">This beautiful little animal was once most numerous here</a>.” </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/363782/original/file-20201015-17-1fdyso8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Watercolor painting depicting an Antarctic landscape with a man in the foreground swinging an ax into the bloody carcass of a seal." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/363782/original/file-20201015-17-1fdyso8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/363782/original/file-20201015-17-1fdyso8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/363782/original/file-20201015-17-1fdyso8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/363782/original/file-20201015-17-1fdyso8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/363782/original/file-20201015-17-1fdyso8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/363782/original/file-20201015-17-1fdyso8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/363782/original/file-20201015-17-1fdyso8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘The Antarctic Butcher’ painted by Standish Backus, 1956.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/art/exhibits/exploration-and-technology/antarctica-operation-deep-freeze-i-1955-56/life-in-camp/the-antarctic-butcher.html">U.S. Naval Art Collection</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Elephant seals were also hunted, but for their blubber, which could be converted into oil. It was not difficult for hunters to drive them to the beaches, lance them through the heart (or, later, shoot them in the skull), drain their blood and remove their blubber. “We left the dead things, raw and meaty, lying on the beach,” <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/South_Latitude.html?id=a-Nzlo95OrsC">according to one sealer</a>. The <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Sealing_in_the_Southern_Oceans_1788_1833/kkyfuAAACAAJ?hl=en">birds would pick the skeletons clean within days</a>. </p>
<p>Sealing rapidly declined in the 1960s, owing to a mix of evolving cultural sentiments and changing availability of other materials, such as plastics, that could be made into warm synthetic clothing and petroleum-based lubricants. </p>
<p>The broadcast of <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/new-rules-to-protect-seals">footage showing Canadian sealing in the early 1960s</a> scandalized North American and European citizens and <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=oCSQDwAAQBAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s">prompted a quick shift in attitudes toward sealing</a>. The Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Seals was signed in 1972, regulating the large-scale slaughter of seals for all nations in the region. Today, the population of <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/2058/66993062">fur seals has rebounded</a>, with a <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/2058/66993062#population">colony of over 5 million</a> on South Georgia alone, though numbers have declined since 2000. Elephant seals, too, have largely rebounded, with an <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/13583/45227247">estimated stable population of 650,000</a> since the mid-1990s. </p>
<h2>Blood-red water</h2>
<p>The whaling grounds off Antarctica were so rich they drew fleets from many nations. First came Norwegian and British companies, later to be joined by others from Germany, Russia, the Netherlands and Japan. Whaling had occurred in the Southern Ocean in the 19th century, but it wasn’t until the first half of the 20th century that <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_History_of_Modern_Whaling.html?id=-miE3r5DgPUC">whales were hunted to near extinction there</a>. </p>
<p>In the 19th century, whale oil was used primarily for lamp fuel. But after 1910, <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_History_of_Modern_Whaling.html?id=-miE3r5DgPUC">new uses were found for the oil</a>, including <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_History_of_Modern_Whaling.html?id=-miE3r5DgPUC">as industrial lubricants and edible fats</a>. </p>
<p>Whaling became extremely lucrative for a small group of companies, including <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-is-margarine-made-of">Unilever, whose early fortunes were built from margarine made with whale oil</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/363989/original/file-20201016-13-1hrvkq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Three whale carcasses in various stages of dismemberment are on the deck of a large ship with men working on them." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/363989/original/file-20201016-13-1hrvkq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/363989/original/file-20201016-13-1hrvkq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=735&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/363989/original/file-20201016-13-1hrvkq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=735&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/363989/original/file-20201016-13-1hrvkq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=735&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/363989/original/file-20201016-13-1hrvkq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=924&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/363989/original/file-20201016-13-1hrvkq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=924&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/363989/original/file-20201016-13-1hrvkq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=924&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Aboard a Japanese whaling ship near Antarctica, 1962.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/south-pole-a-japanese-whaling-1962-news-photo/1182685696">Marka/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At first, whales killed at sea had to be brought to a shore station to be processed. <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Great_Waters.html?id=lyMGwgEACAAJ">In 1925, an observer wrote</a>, “What an appalling stench it is…The water in which the whales float, and on which we too are riding, is blood red.” From the late 1920s on, these <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo9845648.html">shore stations were replaced by pelagic whaling stations</a>, where whales were processed more efficiently on factory ships at sea.</p>
<p>In 1946, some international efforts were made to protect whales. The goal of the <a href="https://archive.iwc.int/pages/view.php?ref=3607&k=">International Whaling Commission</a> created that year was “to provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry.” </p>
<p>But, again in the 1960s, public attitudes toward whales, like seals, began to change when environmentalists revealed they were highly intelligent, sociable creatures that <a href="https://www.npr.org/2014/12/26/373303726/recordings-that-made-waves-the-songs-that-saved-the-whales">sang in the ocean depths</a>. Most nations ceased whale hunting in the Antarctic by the end of the 1960s – because of this consciousness and also because there were inexpensive alternatives to whale products. </p>
<h2>Fishing</h2>
<p>Antarctica’s rich marine life continues to be exploited today. <a href="https://www.ccamlr.org/en/organisation/fishing-ccamlr">Krill and toothfish began to be fished in the 1970s</a>. </p>
<p>Krill, <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/group/krill/">a small shrimp-like crustacean</a>, is used in nutritional supplements and pet foods. <a href="https://www.ccamlr.org/en/fisheries/krill-%E2%80%93-biology-ecology-and-fishing">Norway, China, South Korea and Chile are its biggest harvesters</a>. Toothfish, which has been marketed as Chilean sea bass, is on menus worldwide. </p>
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<p>Since 1982, the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources has managed these fisheries with the overriding goal of maintaining the whole ecosystem. Whales, seals, birds and other fish rely on krill, making them essential to the Antarctic marine ecosystem. </p>
<p>While krill and toothfish are currently both plentiful in the Antarctic, it is unclear how much the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-05372-x">reduction of sea ice and the changing migration patterns of predators</a> who feed on these species are affecting their populations.</p>
<p>Historically and currently, only a small number of people have profited from Antarctica’s living resources, at the great expense of animal populations. Even if sustainable harvesting is possible now, climate change is rapidly undermining Antarctic’s ecological stability. </p>
<p>While major <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/victories/creating-the-world-park-antarctica/">environmental campaigns try to raise awareness</a> of Antarctica’s fragility, most consumers of its products likely do not even know their provenance. Whale and seal populations continue to recover from past overexploitation, but the future impacts of current fishing practices and climate change are uncertain.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/147069/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alessandro Antonello receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniella McCahey does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>For 200 years, a small number of countries have exploited the marine wildlife of Antarctica, often with devastating impact on their populations.Daniella McCahey, Assistant Professor of History, Texas Tech UniversityAlessandro Antonello, Senior Research Fellow in History, Flinders UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/840872017-09-21T10:02:41Z2017-09-21T10:02:41ZMargarine vs butter: how what we spread on our toast became a weapon of class war<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186966/original/file-20170921-8202-1md7ofi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Which are you?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/20/n-praise-of-butter">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Margarine has seen its fortunes ebb and flow with the tide of popular opinion. But Unilever’s <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2017/04/06/margarine-unilever-sales_n_15852216.html">recent announcement</a> that it’s dropping the margarine brands Flora and Stork marks a new low point for the spread. It seems consumers are demanding the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/apr/06/unilever-flora-stork-kraft-heinz-bid">authentic article instead</a> – even McDonalds has <a href="https://www.eater.com/2015/9/1/9239019/mcdonalds-uses-real-butter-axes-margarine-shocker">allegedly switched to butter</a>.</p>
<p>Margarine (sometimes called “butterine”) was <a href="http://www.encyclopedia.com/sports-and-everyday-life/food-and-drink/food-and-cooking/margarine#1O39margarine">invented in 1869</a>. It emerged in response to a prize offered by the French emperor Napoleon III to invent a convincing butter substitute to feed the growing population amid shortages of the real thing. It was a marvel of 19th-century food engineering. </p>
<p>The spread at one time epitomised what Rachel Laudan calls <a href="http://gcfs.ucpress.edu/content/1/1/36">“culinary modernism”</a>. Along with other processed and mass produced goods, margarine filled hungry stomachs with, <a href="http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-answers/butter-vs-margarine/faq-20058152">relatively speaking</a>, nutritious produce. And given its origins, margarine should be a symbol of democracy, innovation and progress.</p>
<p>But margarine has a shady reputation as can be seen from its etymological development. In addition to its usual definition as a noun, the <a href="http://www.oed.com">Oxford English Dictionary</a> charts how the word “margarine” came to be used as an adjective meaning “sham, bogus, counterfeit”. Though rationing during the World War II made margarine an everyday product in British households, regardless of class, it never managed to shake off its associations with “feelings of inferiority and poverty”. Margarine was, <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13619462.2014.923763?src=recsys">in the words</a> of food historian Alysa Levene, “a vehicle for ‘class racism’.”</p>
<h2>A spread of low repute</h2>
<p>Poet Ezra Pound lamented the “margarine substitutes” that fed the public library hoards, while Bloomsbury group painter and critic Roger Fry <a href="http://observer.com/2011/04/the-mechanics-of-marketing-an-artist-whos-out-fleshy-brit-painter-almatadema/">used the put-down</a>, “very good, pure, wholesome margarine” to describe the saccharine paintings of the enormously commercially successful Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (who was incidentally denounced by John Ruskin as the “worst painter of the 19th century”). The cultural and intellectual “elite” of interwar Britain used margarine to articulate the general feeling of contempt that they had for the “vulgar” taste of the masses. </p>
<p>Margarine’s low repute is reflected by a startling number of prominent literary figures and works. And charting margarine’s (or butterine as it was still often called) literary appearances reveals much about class snobbery and elitism. </p>
<p>One example from margarine’s formative years can be found in “the queen of bestsellers” Marie Corelli’s novel <a href="https://archive.org/details/ardathstoryofdea00coreiala">Ardath: The Story of a Dead Self (1890)</a>. Here, respect is apparently due to those who “know the difference between real butter and butterine”. Likewise in H. Rider Haggard’s 1884 debut <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=2BQxDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT104&lpg=PT104&dq=rider+haggard+dawn+butterine&source=bl&ots=weBUQIcWtz&sig=ya-GWpy87GHQGg_A-ewGqdnvfXw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi57rGr4rXWAhWEDMAKHdMmBdcQ6AEIJjAA#v=onepage&q=rider%20haggard%20dawn%20butterine&f=false">adventure novel, Dawn,</a>, a husband snubbed is compared to “butterine, inferior butter, you know, the counterfeit article”.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186967/original/file-20170921-8233-midkes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186967/original/file-20170921-8233-midkes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186967/original/file-20170921-8233-midkes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186967/original/file-20170921-8233-midkes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186967/original/file-20170921-8233-midkes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186967/original/file-20170921-8233-midkes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186967/original/file-20170921-8233-midkes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sydney: a margarine city, according to DH Lawrence.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/sydney-australia-august-9-2017-beautiful-716018968?src=EmrERDEyJofB8ZwtV3g8Rw-1-12">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In his 1923 novel Kangaroo, DH Lawrence uses margarine to highlight the second-rate, in this case the <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=65cvDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT23&lpg=PT23&dq=This+London+of+the+southern+hemisphere+was+all,+as+it+were,+made+in+five+minutes,+a+substitute+for+the+real+thing+--+as+margarine+is+a+substitute+for+butter.&source=bl&ots=RXj-0PR52h&sig=m-yDV6EF0oojCgtzHa55xkWpm2s&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwibtdjR4rXWAhVhBsAKHUjyD3wQ6AEIJjAA#v=onepage&q=This%20London%20of%20the%20southern%20hemisphere%20was%20all%2C%20as%20it%20were%2C%20made%20in%20five%20minutes%2C%20a%20substitute%20for%20the%20real%20thing%20--%20as%20margarine%20is%20a%20substitute%20for%20butter.&f=false">antipodean capital, Sydney</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>This London of the southern hemisphere was all, as it were, made in five minutes, a substitute for the real thing – as margarine is a substitute for butter.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>George Orwell, in Down and Out in Paris and London (1933), refers to the emasculating effect of margarine consumption. He writes that a <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=BkUGAQAAQBAJ&pg=PP133&lpg=PP133&dq=orwell+not+a+man+any+longer,+only+a+belly+with+a+few+accessory+organs&source=bl&ots=-rDgCNIKEZ&sig=wfV_nLFg1kaMkmDgWvvtOXr4c38&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjwl9P84rXWAhUHLcAKHb4jA8AQ6AEILDAB#v=onepage&q=orwell%20not%20a%20man%20any%20longer%2C%20only%20a%20belly%20with%20a%20few%20accessory%20organs&f=false">man who consumes only bread and margarine</a> is “not a man any longer, only a belly with a few accessory organs”. Orwell speaks of the “dirty in the grain look” which physically mars the consumer of the spread. </p>
<p>Later, in Orwell’s Coming up for Air (1939) troubled times are signified by <a href="http://www.telelib.com/authors/O/OrwellGeorge/prose/ComeingUpforAir/2_7.html">margarine’s appearance</a>, “a thing which in the old days [would] never have [been] allowed into the house”. Margarine is referred to similarly in James Joyce’s <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=AL4vDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT142&lpg=PT142&dq=joyce+Potatoes+and+marge,+marge+and+potatoes.+It%E2%80%99s+after+they+feel+it.+Proof+of+the+pudding.+Undermines+the+constitution.&source=bl&ots=C2EI_3Gc2G&sig=gO5q7eemTyQQ9_B7tQ8TzxG_POk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiju4u347XWAhUCJMAKHVGlCbQQ6AEIKTAB#v=onepage&q=joyce%20Potatoes%20and%20marge%2C%20marge%20and%20potatoes.%20It%E2%80%99s%20after%20they%20feel%20it.%20Proof%20of%20the%20pudding.%20Undermines%20the%20constitution.&f=false">modernist masterpiece Ulysses</a> (1922): </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Potatoes and marge, marge and potatoes. It’s after they feel it. Proof of the pudding. Undermines the constitution.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Second rate</h2>
<p>In a column penned by Evelyn Waugh for <a href="http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/13th-april-1929/10/the-war-and-the-younger-generation">The Spectator in 1929</a>, margarine represents a general post-war lack of good taste. During the war, writes Waugh, “[e]verything was a ‘substitute’ for something else”, the upshot being “a generation of whom nine hundred and fifty in every thousand are totally lacking in any sense of qualitative value” as a consequence of “being nurtured on margarine and ‘honey sugar’.” Such a diet, according to Waugh, makes them “turn instinctively to the second rate in art and life”. </p>
<p>Tellingly, margarine features as a central plot device in two detective stories centring on themes of class, detection, and fakery: Arthur Morrison’s The Stolen Blenkinsop (1908) and Dorothy L Sayers’ Murder Must Advertise (1933). </p>
<p>In the latter, Lord Peter Wimsey, disguised as a copywriter at an advertising agency, finds himself producing copy for a brand of margarine. Margarine is in need of advertisement because it is seen as a second-rate product, which the general public needs convincing to buy. Butter, on the other hand, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/20/n-praise-of-butter">sells itself</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>You don’t need an argument for buying butter. It’s a natural, human instinct.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Margarine functions as an extended metaphor for the tawdry world of fakes and counterfeits. At the same time that Sayers’ novel pokes fun at the consumer products of modernity, it dishes out scorn at the snootiness which ranks butter eaters as superior to those who choose margarine.</p>
<p>Margarine stands for the novel and the innovative. It stands for technology and progress. But margarine also embodies anxieties about the prevalence of mass culture and the fear surrounding the dissolution of boundaries between the high and the low, the real and the fake. Margarine is so threatening a symbol as it represents the potential contamination of society with what the early 20th-century elites might have seen as infectious mediocrity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/84087/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ellen Turner does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Margarine has long been mocked as a symbol of poor taste.Ellen Turner, Senior Lecturer in English Literature, Lund UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/824452017-09-13T03:10:51Z2017-09-13T03:10:51ZHealth Check: is margarine actually better for me than butter?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184150/original/file-20170831-9954-9bteez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The type of fatty acid is what's most important when choosing a spread. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com.au</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Only 20 years ago butter was the public villain – contributing to raised cholesterol levels and public concern over an increased risk of heart disease. Now this public perception seems to have been reversed, and reality cooking shows seem to use butter in every recipe. But what has caused this shift in perceptions and is it based on scientific evidence? </p>
<p>In the domestic market more people buy margarine than butter, with 27% of <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4364.0.55.012%7E2011-12%7EMain%20Features%7EUnsaturated%20spreads%20and%20oils%7E10002">respondents in an ABS survey</a> eating margarine the day before, and 15% consuming butter. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/eat-food-not-nutrients-why-healthy-diets-need-a-broad-approach-45823">Eat food, not nutrients: why healthy diets need a broad approach</a>
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<p>Do we still need to be concerned about butter’s links to heart disease, and is there any evidence to suggest butter is better for our health compared to margarine? To answer this we first need to look more closely at the make-up of butter and margarine.</p>
<h2>Where do our favourite yellow spreads come from?</h2>
<p>Butter is made from the processing of cream. The cream is churned until the liquid (buttermilk) separates from the fat solids. These fat solids are then rinsed, a little salt added, and shaped to form the butter we all love. </p>
<p>Margarine was first developed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margarine">in France by Napoleon</a> as a substitute for butter to feed the armed forces and lower classes. Margarine is made from vegetable oils, beta-carotene (added for colour), emulsifiers (to help the oil and water mix), salt and flavours (which can include milk solids). Vitamins A and D are also added to the same level present in butter.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185770/original/file-20170913-3737-16hxocw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185770/original/file-20170913-3737-16hxocw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185770/original/file-20170913-3737-16hxocw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185770/original/file-20170913-3737-16hxocw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185770/original/file-20170913-3737-16hxocw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185770/original/file-20170913-3737-16hxocw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185770/original/file-20170913-3737-16hxocw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185770/original/file-20170913-3737-16hxocw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">We have Napoleon to thank for the advent of margarine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Any diet app will tell you margarine has about 10-15% fewer kilojoules than butter. But whether this is significant will largely depend on the amount you consume each day.</p>
<p>A national nutrition survey indicates the average person over 19 years <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4364.0.55.012%7E2011-12%7EMain%20Features%7EUnsaturated%20spreads%20and%20oils%7E10002">consumes 20 grams a day</a> of spreads (either butter or margarine), which equates to a difference of 100kj. This difference is largely insignificant in a usual daily intake of 8700kj/day. </p>
<h2>It’s all in the fatty acids</h2>
<p>The significant nutritional difference actually lies in the fatty acid profiles of the two products. The health differences between butter and margarine are based on the presence of different types of fats. </p>
<p>There are three types of fats in our food: saturated fat, monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats. The difference between these lies in their chemical structure. The structure of saturated fats has no double bonds in between the carbon atoms, monounsaturated fats have one double bond between the carbon atoms, and polyunsaturated fats have two or more double bonds between the carbon atoms. </p>
<p>These subtle differences in structure lead to differences in the way our body metabolises these fats, and hence how they affect our health, in particular our heart health. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/viewpoints-is-saturated-fat-really-the-killer-its-made-out-to-be-76698">Viewpoints: is saturated fat really the killer it's made out to be?</a>
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<p>Margarine can be made from a number of different oils. If coconut oil is used the margarine will be mainly saturated fat, if sunflower oil is used it will mainly be a polyunsaturated fat, and if olive oil or canola oil is used it will mainly be a monounsaturated fat. </p>
<p>Butter, derived from dairy milk, is mainly saturated fat, and the main saturated fats are palmitic acid (about 31%) and myristic acid (about 12%). Studies have shown these <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5492032/">raise blood cholesterol levels</a>. </p>
<p>While there is <a href="https://theconversation.com/health-check-are-saturated-fats-good-or-bad-21524">debate in the scientific world</a> about the relative contributions of saturated fats (and the different types of saturated fatty acids) to heart disease, <a href="https://www.heartfoundation.org.au/images/uploads/publications/Dietary-fats-summary-evidence.pdf">the consensus</a> is that replacing saturated fats with monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fats will lower the risk of heart disease. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.nrv.gov.au/chronic-disease/macronutrient-balance">Australian Dietary Guidelines</a> and <a href="http://www.who.int/nutrition/publications/nutrientrequirements/fatsandfattyacids_humannutrition/en/">World Health Organisation</a> recommend the lowering of saturated fats to below 10% of daily energy intake. Depending on the overall quality of your diet and intake of saturated fats, you may need to swap your butter for margarine. </p>
<h2>Check the labels</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185769/original/file-20170913-3737-1g25arr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185769/original/file-20170913-3737-1g25arr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185769/original/file-20170913-3737-1g25arr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=762&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185769/original/file-20170913-3737-1g25arr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=762&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185769/original/file-20170913-3737-1g25arr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=762&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185769/original/file-20170913-3737-1g25arr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=958&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185769/original/file-20170913-3737-1g25arr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=958&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185769/original/file-20170913-3737-1g25arr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=958&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Extra-virgin oil protects against heart disease.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There is <a href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1200303#t=abstract">strong evidence</a> extra-virgin olive oil (a monounsaturated fat) provides strong benefits for heart disease protection – but there isn’t enough extra-virgin olive oil in margarine products to confer this benefit. Using olive-oil-based margarines is going to contribute very little to your daily intake of extra-virgin olive oil. </p>
<p>And this is why it’s confusing for the consumer – despite a margarine being labelled as being made from olive oil, it may contain only small amounts of olive oil and not be as high in monounsaturated fats as expected. It’s best to read the <a href="https://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/eating-well/how-understand-food-labels">nutrition information panel</a> to determine which margarine is highest in monounsaturated fats.</p>
<p>Another point of difference between butter and margarine is that margarine may contain <a href="https://www.heartfoundation.org.au/images/uploads/.../Stanols-QA-General.pdf">plant sterols</a>, which help reduce cholesterol levels.</p>
<p>At the end of the day, if you consume butter only occasionally and your diet closely adheres to the <a href="https://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/">Australian guidelines</a> for healthy eating, there is no harm in continuing to do so. </p>
<p>Another option to consider would be the butter blends. These provide the taste of butter while reducing saturated fat intake to half, and they are easier to spread. Of course, if you consume lots of butter, swapping for a low saturated fat margarine is your healthier option – perhaps reserve the butter for special occasions.</p>
<p>If you’re concerned about saturated fat levels in your diet, you should read the nutrition information panel to determine which margarine is lowest in saturated fat, regardless of which oil is used in the product. </p>
<p>As always, people need to base their decision on their family and medical history and obtain advice from their <a href="https://daa.asn.au/maintaining-professional-standards/register-of-apds/">dietitian</a> or GP.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82445/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Evangeline Mantzioris does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Depending on the overall quality of your diet and intake of saturated fats, you may need to swap your butter for margarine.Evangeline Mantzioris, Lecturer in Nutrition, University of South AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/214192013-12-29T20:12:12Z2013-12-29T20:12:12ZWhat the margarine vs butter argument says about nutrition<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/37687/original/br9mxb6k-1386904111.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The long-term decline in butter sales has reversed in recent years despite the continued promotion of margarine as a healthy spread. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">penguincakes/Flickr</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Margarine has been the chameleon of manufactured food products, able to transform its nutritional appearance, adapt to changing nutritional fads, and charm unwitting nutrition experts and nutrition-conscious consumers. </p>
<p>While <a href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199008163230703">research</a> published by nutrition scientists in the early 1990s on the harmfulness of the trans fats in margarine temporarily unveiled its highly processed and degraded character, it has subsequently been reinvented as a trans fat-free, cholesterol-lowering “functional food.” </p>
<p>From its invention in the late 19th century until the 1960s, margarine was considered by most people to be just a cheap imitation of butter, and was mainly consumed by those who couldn’t afford the real thing. </p>
<p>Margarine producers aimed to do little more than simulate the taste, texture, and nutritional profile of butter, by adding vitamins A and D, for instance.</p>
<h2>When fats became good and bad</h2>
<p>The promotion of margarine as a heart-healthy spread by nutrition experts began with the emergence of the distinction between so-called “good” polyunsaturated fats and the “bad” saturated fats. </p>
<p>This distinction was based on an <a href="http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/91/3/502.short">association</a> scientists had detected between saturated fats and heart disease risk, and on an indirect causal link to cardiovascular disease via blood cholesterol levels.</p>
<p>This vilification of saturated fats introduced the really novel idea that some naturally occurring nutrients are “bad”. But to describe nutrients as good or bad was really a simplification and exaggeration of the scientific evidence of their roles in the human body.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, such was the conviction of most nutrition experts in their new theories of good and bad fats that they were willing to override concerns about the highly processed character of margarine. </p>
<p>This included ignoring the fact that some of the polyunsaturated fats in margarine had been chemically transformed into trans fats during the hydrogenation process used to solidify vegetable oils. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/37722/original/hvs9p78m-1386908566.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/37722/original/hvs9p78m-1386908566.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/37722/original/hvs9p78m-1386908566.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/37722/original/hvs9p78m-1386908566.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/37722/original/hvs9p78m-1386908566.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/37722/original/hvs9p78m-1386908566.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/37722/original/hvs9p78m-1386908566.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Margarine has been reinvented as a trans fat-free, cholesterol-lowering ‘functional food’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Benjamin/Flickr</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And some <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF02638705?LI=true">early evidence</a> that trans fats and partially hydrogenated vegetable oils have much the same effects as saturated fats on blood cholesterol levels was largely ignored.</p>
<h2>Through the nutritionism prism</h2>
<p>Nutrition experts’ promotion of margarine as a more healthy spread than butter was an important landmark in the triumph of what I call the <em>ideology of nutritionism</em>. </p>
<p><a href="http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-15656-1/nutritionism">Nutritionism</a> refers to the reductive focus on nutrients as a way of evaluating and comparing the healthiness of foods, which has dominated nutrition research and dietary advice for much of the past century. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.allenandunwin.com/default.aspx?page=94&book=9781743316924">It’s characterised</a> by simplified, exaggerated, and decontextualized explanations of the health effects of particular nutrients. </p>
<p>At the same time, other ways of evaluating food quality, such as on the basis of the level and type of processing a food has been subjected to, have been systematically undermined.</p>
<p>Based on this reductive nutritional ideology, the hierarchy of butter and margarine was turned on its head as the imitation came to be considered better than – and more real than – the original. </p>
<p>In this sense, margarine was one of the first hyper-real food products of the modern age.</p>
<h2>Trans fats as ‘bad fats’</h2>
<p>By the 1980s, food manufacturers and fast-food chains, such as McDonald’s, were being pressured by public health groups to change from using animal fats and tropical oils (such as palm oil) to vegetable oils high in polyunsaturated fats. </p>
<p>But these polyunsaturated-rich oils had also typically been hydrogenated in order to give them the required baking or frying characteristics.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/37724/original/2hdc2ctx-1386908896.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/37724/original/2hdc2ctx-1386908896.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/37724/original/2hdc2ctx-1386908896.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/37724/original/2hdc2ctx-1386908896.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/37724/original/2hdc2ctx-1386908896.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/37724/original/2hdc2ctx-1386908896.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/37724/original/2hdc2ctx-1386908896.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Early evidence that partially hydrogenated vegetable oils have much the same effects as saturated fats on blood cholesterol levels was largely ignored.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">1950sUnlimited/Flickr</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Margarine’s nutritional façade was briefly undermined when a <a href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199008163230703">study</a> published in the early 1990s demonstrated that trans fats, in fact, have more harmful effects on blood cholesterol levels than saturated fats. </p>
<p>Other <a href="http://www.nature.com/ejcn/journal/v63/n2s/full/1602973a.html">studies</a> have found a number of other associations and more direct harmful properties of trans fats.</p>
<p>Nutrition experts could have paused to question their reductive interpretation of margarine and butter in terms of their fat composition at this juncture, and perhaps reflected more deeply on other characteristics of the dominant nutritional paradigm, such as the good-and-bad fats discourse. </p>
<p>But instead most experts reacted by reasserting and even extending this discourse, by re-categorising trans fats as one of the bad fats and, in fact, as the worst fats of all. </p>
<p>They placed this novel, chemically modified fat in the same “bad fats” basket as saturated fats, thus blurring the distinction between a naturally-occurring and a chemically reconstituted fat.</p>
<h2>From trans fats to <em>i</em>-fats</h2>
<p>Margarine producers responded by finding new ways of chemically modifying the oils and fats so as to harden them without producing large quantities of trans fats. </p>
<p>They have typically done so by using a combination of the techniques of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogenation">hydrogenation</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractionation">fractionation</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interesterification">interesterification</a> — all of which separate and chemically rearrange or transform the fatty acids in vegetable oils.</p>
<p>The end product is no less highly processed and reconstituted. And nutrition scientists don’t really know if these new types of modified fats, which I refer to as <em>i-fats</em> (short for interesterified fats), are any <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/lite.200800031/abstract">safer</a> than trans fats, since they have not been extensively studied.</p>
<p>Still, these chemical modifications were enough to satisfy most nutrition experts, who seemed content to be told that these reformulated spreads are virtually trans fat-free. </p>
<p>Many experts have also continued to ignore the underlying processing techniques and additives used in the production of these spreads, maintaining focus on their nutrient composition instead.</p>
<p>While the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gyorgy-scrinis/the-transfats-fiasco_b_4267381.html">trans fats fiasco</a> was unfolding in the 1990s, some producers continued to refashion the nutrient profile of their spreads by adding plant sterols (components extracted from plants, such as wood pulp), to produce cholesterol-lowering spreads. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/37721/original/26qsszcc-1386908425.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/37721/original/26qsszcc-1386908425.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/37721/original/26qsszcc-1386908425.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/37721/original/26qsszcc-1386908425.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/37721/original/26qsszcc-1386908425.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/37721/original/26qsszcc-1386908425.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/37721/original/26qsszcc-1386908425.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Until the 1960s, margarine was considered to be just a cheap imitation of butter consumed by people who couldn’t afford the real thing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paula Bailey</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The health claims on these products suggest they actively reduce the risk of heart disease by lowering blood cholesterol levels. But there’s no evidence that consuming the spreads actually reduces the incidence of heart disease.</p>
<h2>The resurrection of real butter</h2>
<p>Margarines and spreads have also had other fetishized nutrients added to the mix, such as omega-3 fats, in order to claim to nutritional benefits. </p>
<p>In these ways margarine has been taken to the next level of hyper-reality, or what French social theorist Jean Baudrillard referred to as “pure simulation”. Margarine now simulates the nutritional profile of a range of foods. </p>
<p>Its primary reference point is no longer foods, such as butter, because it now almost entirely inhabits of world of nutrients and nutritional concepts.</p>
<p>In some cases butter producers have also chosen to play this nutritional game, by manufacturing reduced-fat varieties, or mixing butter with vegetable oils, such as canola or olive oil, to mimic both the nutritional profile and the spreadability of margarine.</p>
<p>Margarine and spread sales continue to outstrip butter sales. But, despite the continued promotion of margarine by many nutrition experts as a healthy spread, the long-term decline in <a href="http://www.heartfoundation.org.au/.../Spreads-in-the-current-market.pdf%E2%80%8E">butter sales</a> has been reversed in recent years in Australia and other countries, while margarine sales are falling.</p>
<p>It may be that many consumers are deciding they prefer the taste and “naturalness” of butter, either because they have discovered the highly processed character of margarine, or because they’re no longer deterred by the vilification of saturated fats.</p>
<p>But this may also be evidence that the ideology of nutritionism itself is beginning to lose its hold, at least on the lay public, as people turn to other ways of understanding and appreciating food quality.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/21419/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gyorgy Scrinis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Margarine has been the chameleon of manufactured food products, able to transform its nutritional appearance, adapt to changing nutritional fads, and charm unwitting nutrition experts and nutrition-conscious…Gyorgy Scrinis, Lecturer in Food and Nutrition Politics and Policy, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.