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Essay / History of Natural Butter Substitutes in the United States
Butter has been present in the human diet for over four thousand years and is considered a staple of society. Clarified butter – that is, butter melted and reduced to its fat – has been a symbol of purity in India for several millennia, and butter has been a cornerstone of French cuisine since its discovery. It was not until the 18th century that margarine was introduced into the human diet as an affordable substitute for butter. Margarine was invented in 1869 by a French chemist named Hippolyte Mege-Mouries after Emperor Napoleon requested that such a substitute be produced for consumption by the working classes and the armed forces. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essayMargarine was introduced to the United States in the 1870s, to appease the poorer classes and to create fear among American dairy producers. Ten years after arriving in the United States, more than thirty companies began making margarine as an affordable alternative to butter, and the margarine and butter wars began as butter manufacturers attempted to compete with the alternatives. cheapest currently available on the market. Due to the Battle of the Butters, dairy lobbyists attempted in the 1880s to phase out margarine by imposing an outrageous tax law on margarine and making licensing fees to produce margarine prohibitive, and some States have even banned the production and sale of margarine in the state. lines in total. Color bans were introduced in states that allowed margarine to be distinguished from real butter, and it had to be an unattractive pinkish color. It was not until the early 1980s that the color bans were lifted. It was during the Great Depression and World War II that margarine became a big seller, despite opposition to its "unnatural" characteristics. Sales began to far exceed those of traditional butter, and the process of refining margarine was changed. Margarines were produced from hydrogenated vegetable oils instead of animal fats. Margarine really received a head start in the competition when Eleanor Roosevelt promoted the great taste of the butter alternative in a television commercial in 1959, and by the early 1970s, margarine was being consumed by Americans at a rate of about ten pounds per person per year. far exceeding the consumption of real butter. Over the next few years, however, butter rose back to the top as America's favorite spread. This is due to the increasing trend in the number of health-conscious individuals, especially since the arrival of millennials. Studies have determined that, from a health perspective, the saturated fats contained in the Pure butter is much less harmful than the trans fats and additives found in margarine. Butter made a comeback as the most popular spread until the advent of new and improved vegan spreads. Although butter is still the number one choice among the masses, vegan butter alternatives have captured a share of the spread market by offering dairy-free, gluten-free, and all-natural alternatives to real butter. The first company to offer an alternative to butter free of hydrogenated oils – which are the main source of trans fats – was Smart Balance in 1997, with the launch of its range of butter spreads...