This past week one of my friends sent me one of those emails with seemingly helpful information that are billed as “worth knowing” This one extolled the virtues of eating butter vs. margarine and was titled “Pass the Butter...Please”. Here's the lowdown:
“Margarine was originally manufactured to fatten turkeys. When it killed the turkeys, the people who had put all the money into the research wanted a payback so they put their heads together to figure out what to do with this product to get their money back. It was a white substance with no food appeal so they added the yellow coloring and sold it to people to use in place of butter.”***
If that was not enough to get you thinking, we are then given a lengthy comparison proving butter is a far better choice than margarine. Lastly the clincher, stressing this most disturbing fact:
Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC..
By this time I'm thinking I ought to be checking this story out at Snopes. After all they alerted me that slathering VapoRub on my the bottom of my feet to stop a cough might or might not work. Snopes is the place I use to check out the various email, rumor has it, stuff my friends send me. For instance, how about this one; Johnson & Johnson rectal thermometers are personally tested! False (thank heavens) or that John Howard Griffin, the author of Black Like Me, died from a skin cancer after trying to darken his skin; also false.
On the other hand I haven't used butter or margarine on my bread in over 15 years so decided to forgo Snopes and just get to the nitty of what the word BUTTER does for me. I immediately break into song
Butter...I remember butter
we were once like lovers
we were quite a team
...words & music by Megon McDonough
You can find this funny song that recollects fond memories of butter, sugar, pasta and Haagen Dazs on the album Buy Me Bring Me Take Me: Don't Mess My Hair...Life According to Four Bitchin' Babes, Vol 2. The Babes started out with members Christine Lavin, Sally Fingerett, Patty Larkin and Megon McDonough sharing songs and laughs together in Chicago. Over the years the members have changed but the music continues to be lively and fun. Presently they consist of Sally Fingerett, Debi Smith, Nancy Moran, and Deirde Flint and have a new album called Hormonal Imbalance.
Unfortunately, there's good news and bad news and more bad news. First the bad news; Saxton B. does not own the album with Butter on it , and more bad news, it's backordered at the moment. The good news is if you're really interested in hearing this song (listen to a bit at AllMusic) you can place an interlibrary loan and have it delivered to our library. A bit more good news, we do own some other cd's of The Four Bitchin' Babes. Give them a listen!
***http://www.snopes.com/food/warnings/butter.asp - the butter vs. margarine debate
SAXTON B. LITTLE FREE