Opinicus extrapolated from data available...


>
> Then you would have *loved* it when it was first introduced
> on the market. Some states (mostly those with a strong
> dairy-farming lobby) passed laws that prohibited margarine
> manufacturers from dyeing their margarines yellow to
> resemble butter. Have you ever seen undyed margarine? Its
> color resembles the pallid skin of a recently dead person.
> Margarine manufacturers got around this by putting a little
> blob of dye inside the package. You kneaded the package to
> work the dye into it. This was a task I was frequently given
> as a kid.
>

For those of us who were kids during the war, margarine was the standard
and butter, rarely available in local markets, the exception. I have
contemporaries who, having grown up on margarine, actually find the flavor
of real butter off-putting, and swear by Parkay and Bluebonnet.

Modern "miracles" do change dining habits (and not just Mr. Bird's Eye and
the Green Giant).. Back during the 50s, aside from Italian restaurants and
the gourmet trade, olive oil use in the US declined substantially, and lard
was highly "ethnicicized", while use of "vegetable" oils (a broadly
enolding term) in homes and restaurants expanded. Dull "white" cornmeal
gave way to violently yellow (maybe dyed to match) commercial varieties.