Phred wrote:
> In article >, "Nancy
> Young" > wrote: [snip]
>> A good friend of mine would be dead now if he didn't have
>> his heart attack while in the hospital with pains. Seems he's
>> one of those people whose body manufactures too much
>> cholesterol and it almost killed him at 45. This is a fitness
>> buff.

> The politically powerful dairy industry back in the Good Old Days
> insisted that our "peanut butter" be renamed to remove the "butter"
> (hence "peanut paste").

(sigh)

> I don't know if they were also the reason
> margarine formulation changed dramatically some decades ago, or
> whether it was just that margarine manufacturers saw an opportunity in
> providing a more spreadable product than butter at the time. Whatever
> the reason, modern margarine here in Oz is now a very poor relative of
> butter when it comes to putting some grease on bread or whatever!
> To put it mildly, it's now inedible YUK! (Well, IMO anyway. :-)
> [Also, the old table/cooking margarine distinction has long gone.]
>
> I might add that an industrial chemist I know who works for one of the
> major manufacturers once told me that margarine is made from whatever
> oil is cheapest at the time. (I suspect most is made from palm oil
> here.)

Yeah, my poor mother fed my father (and us, of course) margarine
for years thinking it was healthier. Now she beats herself up she
probably killed him.

nancy