1
00:00:23,720 --> 00:00:29,600
Speaker 1: Ladies and gentlemen, friends and neighbors, lactose, tolerant and intolerant alike. Boy,

2
00:00:29,720 --> 00:00:32,080
Speaker 1: do we have a story for you today. Hi, my

3
00:00:32,159 --> 00:00:34,080
Speaker 1: name is Ben, my name is Nolan Ben. We try

4
00:00:34,120 --> 00:00:38,080
Speaker 1: to stay tolerant on ridiculous history. True. Yeah, And I

5
00:00:38,120 --> 00:00:40,880
Speaker 1: have a new nickname for you. It's I can't believe

6
00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:43,800
Speaker 1: it's not Ben Bowling, but it is. Its Ben Bowling. Thanks.

7
00:00:43,880 --> 00:00:46,960
Speaker 1: And and you're Noel Brown. And of course we are

8
00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:54,120
Speaker 1: accompanied as always by our superproducer, Casey Pegrum. And today, no,

9
00:00:54,760 --> 00:00:57,640
Speaker 1: we are exploring something that I have to be honest

10
00:00:57,720 --> 00:01:00,920
Speaker 1: with you, I had no understand ending of before our

11
00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:05,000
Speaker 1: research for this episode began. Yeah, we're talking about marjarine,

12
00:01:05,240 --> 00:01:10,800
Speaker 1: and not just marjarine, the perennially tolerable uh spread butter substitute.

13
00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:13,760
Speaker 1: I don't know, maybe I have an Instagram. Um. I.

14
00:01:14,200 --> 00:01:16,880
Speaker 1: My whole thing is, I've always been a little confused

15
00:01:16,880 --> 00:01:20,800
Speaker 1: about what marjarine really is. But before we get to that,

16
00:01:21,400 --> 00:01:23,720
Speaker 1: people cared a lot about marjarine back in the day.

17
00:01:24,040 --> 00:01:27,160
Speaker 1: Oh they did, they did. Marjarine, it turns out, is

18
00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:30,200
Speaker 1: the first domestic food to be regulated by the federal

19
00:01:30,319 --> 00:01:33,720
Speaker 1: government in the United States. It has a very strange

20
00:01:33,840 --> 00:01:38,000
Speaker 1: history on this continent that has been explored in very

21
00:01:38,160 --> 00:01:43,679
Speaker 1: strange pseudo buttery depth. Uh. There's a great article by

22
00:01:43,800 --> 00:01:46,520
Speaker 1: an author named Ruth Duprie called if It's Yellow, it

23
00:01:46,600 --> 00:01:50,040
Speaker 1: Must be Butter. Marjarine regulation in North America since eighteen

24
00:01:50,480 --> 00:01:54,760
Speaker 1: eighty six. And the reason that date is important is

25
00:01:54,880 --> 00:01:59,160
Speaker 1: because it's not just a story of this substitute. It's

26
00:01:59,240 --> 00:02:05,000
Speaker 1: a story of what eventually escalated into a continent wide

27
00:02:05,080 --> 00:02:07,200
Speaker 1: war of sorts, a bit of a war. And you know,

28
00:02:07,320 --> 00:02:11,320
Speaker 1: last episode we talked about a war involving eggs um.

29
00:02:11,600 --> 00:02:17,079
Speaker 1: This episode, we're talking about a war involving various incarnations

30
00:02:17,160 --> 00:02:19,720
Speaker 1: of animal parts and stuff that you can put on

31
00:02:19,960 --> 00:02:22,720
Speaker 1: things to eat and cook with. That year you mentioned,

32
00:02:22,760 --> 00:02:27,080
Speaker 1: the six is very important because that is the year that, uh,

33
00:02:27,200 --> 00:02:32,040
Speaker 1: the United States passed the Marjarine Act, which severely limited

34
00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:34,200
Speaker 1: It was kind of this cap off of what had

35
00:02:34,240 --> 00:02:36,680
Speaker 1: already been a war on butter in the United States.

36
00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:38,880
Speaker 1: We're talking about Canada today, but just to give a

37
00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:42,680
Speaker 1: little bit of background, in the United States, big butter, right,

38
00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:47,639
Speaker 1: kind of like big Brother, but more buttery. They fought

39
00:02:47,960 --> 00:02:51,560
Speaker 1: tooth and nail against this substitute they were so protective

40
00:02:51,560 --> 00:02:54,600
Speaker 1: of their industry that anything they saw is potentially stepping

41
00:02:54,639 --> 00:02:58,160
Speaker 1: on their terrain. They had friends in high places and

42
00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:02,040
Speaker 1: they made sure to quash that. And Margarine was persona

43
00:03:02,120 --> 00:03:05,160
Speaker 1: non grad I was m enemy number one. Yes, and

44
00:03:05,720 --> 00:03:09,400
Speaker 1: we are, ASNAL said, we are focusing on Canada for

45
00:03:09,520 --> 00:03:14,880
Speaker 1: today's purposes. But we found so much fascinating, hilarious and

46
00:03:14,960 --> 00:03:18,799
Speaker 1: wait for ridiculous history about butter and Margarine in the

47
00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:21,519
Speaker 1: United States that we're going to have to throw some

48
00:03:21,639 --> 00:03:23,760
Speaker 1: of these awesome quotes. And there's one I've been waiting

49
00:03:23,840 --> 00:03:26,600
Speaker 1: to do, like all all week. Yes, and and lest

50
00:03:26,680 --> 00:03:28,679
Speaker 1: we get ahead of ourselves, just know all of this

51
00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:33,519
Speaker 1: is to set the stage for the demonization that did

52
00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:38,720
Speaker 1: spread to spread to Canada. That's good because that year

53
00:03:38,760 --> 00:03:41,880
Speaker 1: of when this act was passed in the United States

54
00:03:42,200 --> 00:03:46,400
Speaker 1: was the same year that Canada banned marjarine completely, no

55
00:03:46,600 --> 00:03:50,760
Speaker 1: its ands or but substitutes. I know we're skirting the

56
00:03:50,760 --> 00:03:53,360
Speaker 1: family show a line here is fine. So we'd like

57
00:03:53,440 --> 00:03:59,160
Speaker 1: to give you this quote from Governor Lucius Hubbard of Minnesota, who,

58
00:03:59,440 --> 00:04:02,520
Speaker 1: in this time time bemoan the fact that the quote

59
00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:06,760
Speaker 1: ingenuity of depraved human genius has culminated in the production

60
00:04:06,840 --> 00:04:12,200
Speaker 1: of oleomargarine and it's kindred abominations. I have never heard

61
00:04:12,520 --> 00:04:16,240
Speaker 1: a food stuff or group of food items referred to

62
00:04:16,400 --> 00:04:20,360
Speaker 1: as abominations, kindred, or otherwise. This was such a big

63
00:04:20,400 --> 00:04:24,240
Speaker 1: deal that other senators spoke out on the issue as well.

64
00:04:24,400 --> 00:04:29,520
Speaker 1: Senator Joseph Quarrels of Wisconsin, also known as the dairy

65
00:04:29,640 --> 00:04:33,200
Speaker 1: State UH, said that butter should come from the dairy,

66
00:04:33,600 --> 00:04:37,320
Speaker 1: not the slaughterhouse. I want butter that has the natural

67
00:04:37,400 --> 00:04:41,040
Speaker 1: aroma of life and health, said Senator Quarrels. I declined

68
00:04:41,080 --> 00:04:44,160
Speaker 1: to accept as a substitute. Call fat matured under the

69
00:04:44,279 --> 00:04:47,560
Speaker 1: chill of death, blended with vegetable oils and flavored by

70
00:04:47,680 --> 00:04:50,800
Speaker 1: chemical tricks and the last one. The butter lobby in

71
00:04:50,800 --> 00:04:53,960
Speaker 1: the United States had such an asta grind with margarine

72
00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:57,880
Speaker 1: that they throughout all kinds of spurious, awful misinformation to

73
00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:01,840
Speaker 1: completely malign this product, which we need to need to

74
00:05:01,880 --> 00:05:03,839
Speaker 1: talk more about what the product actually is. But let

75
00:05:03,880 --> 00:05:05,080
Speaker 1: me do this quote and then we'll see what you

76
00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:08,200
Speaker 1: can do about that quote. They called it the slag

77
00:05:08,440 --> 00:05:11,760
Speaker 1: of the butcher shop, a compound of diseased hogs and

78
00:05:11,920 --> 00:05:16,880
Speaker 1: dead dogs, also implying that it contained quote the germs

79
00:05:17,320 --> 00:05:19,880
Speaker 1: of cancer, that is from the War on Margarine from

80
00:05:19,880 --> 00:05:26,200
Speaker 1: the Foundation for Economic Education, written by Adam Young. So, Ben,

81
00:05:26,839 --> 00:05:28,120
Speaker 1: we need to take it. We need to pump the

82
00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:32,680
Speaker 1: brakes a little bit before we we go to Newfoundland, Newfoundland, Canada.

83
00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:37,279
Speaker 1: I have I think a solution. Yeah. Do you remember

84
00:05:37,400 --> 00:05:40,880
Speaker 1: earlier when we were at that that shady thrift store

85
00:05:41,120 --> 00:05:44,279
Speaker 1: and we found that butter dish. I think the cashier

86
00:05:44,400 --> 00:05:47,159
Speaker 1: was right when they said that it had extraordinary ability.

87
00:05:47,200 --> 00:05:50,320
Speaker 1: It was imbued with mystical properties. Yeah, which they kind

88
00:05:50,360 --> 00:05:52,200
Speaker 1: of buried the lead on that, but we we still

89
00:05:52,279 --> 00:05:55,440
Speaker 1: got it and we have it in the studio. Maybe

90
00:05:55,839 --> 00:05:58,520
Speaker 1: maybe this can help us explain the difference between butter

91
00:05:58,680 --> 00:06:01,000
Speaker 1: and margarine. You want to give it a give it

92
00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:03,160
Speaker 1: a I don't know, knock it on the table, or

93
00:06:03,440 --> 00:06:08,000
Speaker 1: give it a rub. There we go. Oh wait, wait,

94
00:06:08,560 --> 00:06:10,440
Speaker 1: do you hear that? I don't. I don't know yet.

95
00:06:10,839 --> 00:06:13,400
Speaker 1: It has him an added in post right right right,

96
00:06:13,839 --> 00:06:17,520
Speaker 1: So are amazing acting skills aside, it turns out that

97
00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:21,360
Speaker 1: this did work. I think we've summoned a factor, Genie,

98
00:06:21,480 --> 00:06:24,440
Speaker 1: A fact Genie. You say, whoa, whoa, it's Lauren Vogel

99
00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:27,200
Speaker 1: Bomb from food Stuff fame. I don't know why you

100
00:06:27,320 --> 00:06:30,560
Speaker 1: guys get to be this surprised. I almost had the

101
00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:34,640
Speaker 1: reason why magic mushrooms form in circles. I almost had

102
00:06:34,680 --> 00:06:37,960
Speaker 1: fairy circles figured out why am I here? That may

103
00:06:38,040 --> 00:06:41,520
Speaker 1: have been part of it, Lauren, You fairy magic carried

104
00:06:41,560 --> 00:06:44,280
Speaker 1: you here, and it connected with our particular brand of

105
00:06:44,320 --> 00:06:47,120
Speaker 1: fairy magic for a segment we would now like to

106
00:06:47,279 --> 00:06:50,640
Speaker 1: forever refer to as the Fact Genie. The fact Genie

107
00:06:50,800 --> 00:06:54,880
Speaker 1: agreed Lauren in your outside of Fact Genie life, you

108
00:06:55,160 --> 00:06:59,760
Speaker 1: are one of the driving forces behind our favorite food show,

109
00:07:00,200 --> 00:07:02,720
Speaker 1: food Stuff, also available for free via House of Works

110
00:07:02,720 --> 00:07:05,840
Speaker 1: wherever you find your podcast. I I am that's very true.

111
00:07:05,880 --> 00:07:09,040
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for that compliment. So you know,

112
00:07:09,360 --> 00:07:13,440
Speaker 1: the mystical powers of the thrift Store universe must have

113
00:07:13,560 --> 00:07:16,280
Speaker 1: known this and summoned to you on our behalf to

114
00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:19,240
Speaker 1: answer the question, what's the difference between butter and Marjorie?

115
00:07:19,720 --> 00:07:21,400
Speaker 1: Let's talk about this a little bit. You have a minute,

116
00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:24,120
Speaker 1: is it okay? We'll leave to you. Sure, But according

117
00:07:24,280 --> 00:07:27,520
Speaker 1: to this paper that just fell out of the Magical

118
00:07:27,640 --> 00:07:30,760
Speaker 1: Butter Dish, you only get three questions and after that

119
00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:33,480
Speaker 1: I can go seem fair. It did say that on

120
00:07:33,560 --> 00:07:36,160
Speaker 1: the receipt. I should have mentioned that earlier. It's okay, ben,

121
00:07:36,720 --> 00:07:40,760
Speaker 1: So okay, So I think that's our number one question.

122
00:07:41,240 --> 00:07:43,960
Speaker 1: If we only get three, our first question is justice,

123
00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:46,840
Speaker 1: and said, what is the difference between butter and margarine?

124
00:07:46,840 --> 00:07:50,240
Speaker 1: Because they're different? Right? Sure? Okay, Well, butter is a

125
00:07:50,400 --> 00:07:53,880
Speaker 1: concentration of the fatty and fat soluble parts of milk

126
00:07:54,000 --> 00:07:56,360
Speaker 1: that have been churned and worked to press out water

127
00:07:56,480 --> 00:07:58,920
Speaker 1: and link the molecules and its solid form. It's actually

128
00:07:58,960 --> 00:08:02,320
Speaker 1: a crystallization of those fats. Butter. Fats start crystallizing around

129
00:08:02,360 --> 00:08:06,560
Speaker 1: fifty degrees fahrenheit or ten degrees celsius. Traditionally, butter flavor

130
00:08:06,920 --> 00:08:10,360
Speaker 1: is a waste product of non pathogenic or friendly lactic

131
00:08:10,360 --> 00:08:13,040
Speaker 1: acid bacteria, which eat the sugars found in milk and

132
00:08:13,200 --> 00:08:16,520
Speaker 1: excrete flavor. But these days most butter in America is

133
00:08:16,560 --> 00:08:20,120
Speaker 1: flavored with lab produced compounds chemically identical to a couple

134
00:08:20,160 --> 00:08:24,080
Speaker 1: of those bacterial byproducts. More bacteria poop kind of is

135
00:08:24,120 --> 00:08:27,200
Speaker 1: that what? You're definitely bacteria poop? Yeah? Yeah, And that's

136
00:08:27,240 --> 00:08:29,720
Speaker 1: pretty that's pretty weird when you think about it. I

137
00:08:29,880 --> 00:08:33,120
Speaker 1: I personally find butter delicious and I'm starting to wonder

138
00:08:33,200 --> 00:08:34,920
Speaker 1: if I want to learn the rest of this. But

139
00:08:35,280 --> 00:08:38,200
Speaker 1: we're here. We have the butter dish. You're here, Uh,

140
00:08:38,880 --> 00:08:43,640
Speaker 1: what's margarine? Margarine is oil that's been transmogrified so that

141
00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:46,360
Speaker 1: it is solid at room temperature and then flavored and

142
00:08:46,520 --> 00:08:50,600
Speaker 1: colored to resemble butter. Though originally made with animal fats,

143
00:08:50,679 --> 00:08:53,040
Speaker 1: these days it's generally made with plant based oils that

144
00:08:53,080 --> 00:08:58,280
Speaker 1: have been hydrogenated, fractionated, or interest rified. I understand several

145
00:08:58,320 --> 00:09:00,400
Speaker 1: of those words. I do. It's almost like the way

146
00:09:00,440 --> 00:09:04,280
Speaker 1: you are transmogrified to this place. Almost. Uh. They're all

147
00:09:04,360 --> 00:09:07,440
Speaker 1: complicated ways of changing the chemical structure of a thing

148
00:09:07,600 --> 00:09:10,320
Speaker 1: to change its freezing points. At that point, you can

149
00:09:10,360 --> 00:09:12,839
Speaker 1: work the fats to create crystallization, the same as with

150
00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:16,840
Speaker 1: butter fats. But you know, butter is as old as

151
00:09:16,920 --> 00:09:19,560
Speaker 1: the hills, right, Lauren. I mean it's like, we can't

152
00:09:19,559 --> 00:09:23,800
Speaker 1: really credit somebody with inventing butter, right, well, not one person,

153
00:09:23,880 --> 00:09:26,400
Speaker 1: That's what I'm saying. But we can do that with Marjarine.

154
00:09:26,440 --> 00:09:29,320
Speaker 1: Can't wait? Oh yeah, that was a French guy back. Yeah,

155
00:09:30,160 --> 00:09:33,240
Speaker 1: Napoleon put out an all call in Napoleon put out

156
00:09:33,280 --> 00:09:36,520
Speaker 1: an all call for a substitute. Correct, Yeah, because butter

157
00:09:36,640 --> 00:09:39,440
Speaker 1: is so expensive that he was like, we need people

158
00:09:39,520 --> 00:09:42,559
Speaker 1: to eat food, and this food is expensive to who

159
00:09:42,600 --> 00:09:45,640
Speaker 1: has a cheaper alternative? And Nolan, I know a little

160
00:09:45,720 --> 00:09:49,520
Speaker 1: bit about this, but to consult our expert for the

161
00:09:49,679 --> 00:09:54,920
Speaker 1: pronunciation of Marjarine's inventor, I believe it's time for Casey

162
00:09:55,120 --> 00:09:57,240
Speaker 1: on the case or what are we calling on? Is

163
00:09:57,280 --> 00:09:59,559
Speaker 1: this a sub segment we're doing? Yeah, we're doing like

164
00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:03,240
Speaker 1: segments and segments over here. Yeah, well on the case

165
00:10:03,320 --> 00:10:07,000
Speaker 1: with Casey. Okay, we're still on the case, but we'll

166
00:10:07,040 --> 00:10:13,199
Speaker 1: get there here he is, Wow, I guess people just

167
00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:19,800
Speaker 1: appear here. Lauri's boy, serious history witchcraft here today? So

168
00:10:20,080 --> 00:10:22,280
Speaker 1: what's what's what's the name of the lovely French scientists

169
00:10:22,280 --> 00:10:26,560
Speaker 1: who invented Marjarine? Al Right, the inventor of margarine pronounced

170
00:10:26,559 --> 00:10:30,679
Speaker 1: in my best French accent is epolite mes moy is

171
00:10:31,440 --> 00:10:36,400
Speaker 1: and Latin gentleman. That's been Casey on the Thank you

172
00:10:36,640 --> 00:10:38,960
Speaker 1: so much for dropping by and letting us know, Casey

173
00:10:39,320 --> 00:10:42,280
Speaker 1: how to pronounce the name of this French chemist who

174
00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:46,360
Speaker 1: invented margarine? In did he did? He invented in eighteen

175
00:10:46,400 --> 00:10:48,439
Speaker 1: sixty nine? Then as it turns out, without being a

176
00:10:48,480 --> 00:10:50,160
Speaker 1: fact gene myself, I happen to know. That is the

177
00:10:50,200 --> 00:10:52,800
Speaker 1: case he invented in eighteen sixty nine. And his recipe.

178
00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:54,920
Speaker 1: If you guys don't know this, it will be interested

179
00:10:54,960 --> 00:10:57,640
Speaker 1: to know was was as such he did finally meant

180
00:10:57,679 --> 00:11:00,439
Speaker 1: to be fat, potassium, salt, fresh sheep stomach, raise the

181
00:11:00,480 --> 00:11:03,679
Speaker 1: temperature to a d thirteen degrees, the PEPs in from

182
00:11:03,720 --> 00:11:06,280
Speaker 1: the sheep's guts mixed with the beef to separate the

183
00:11:06,320 --> 00:11:09,439
Speaker 1: fat from the cellulo tissue. They are put under pressure

184
00:11:09,520 --> 00:11:12,040
Speaker 1: to separate those oils. Then milk and water was added,

185
00:11:12,120 --> 00:11:15,360
Speaker 1: and a food coloring called a nato that was made

186
00:11:15,400 --> 00:11:18,480
Speaker 1: from the seeds of the aquillote tree um. And it's

187
00:11:18,520 --> 00:11:22,439
Speaker 1: interesting actually because today that is used in butter a

188
00:11:22,520 --> 00:11:24,439
Speaker 1: lot of the times too, because people want that stuff

189
00:11:24,480 --> 00:11:26,880
Speaker 1: to be super yellow so they know it's the real deal,

190
00:11:26,960 --> 00:11:30,480
Speaker 1: even though it's it's not similar to salmon being pink

191
00:11:31,040 --> 00:11:34,559
Speaker 1: right cartoonishly so, and cheddar cheese being orange. That was

192
00:11:34,600 --> 00:11:37,040
Speaker 1: a free fact. We didn't ask for that. One counts.

193
00:11:37,080 --> 00:11:38,640
Speaker 1: That counts. That counts is one of our three. I

194
00:11:38,720 --> 00:11:40,640
Speaker 1: think we're we're we're going for the third one now,

195
00:11:40,800 --> 00:11:42,959
Speaker 1: since we have but one more fact to ask for.

196
00:11:43,400 --> 00:11:46,280
Speaker 1: I think the question that's on everybody's mind is, Lauren

197
00:11:46,360 --> 00:11:49,360
Speaker 1: Vogel bomb, where can people hear more of you? Oh goodness.

198
00:11:49,559 --> 00:11:51,319
Speaker 1: You can find me on food stuff and also on

199
00:11:51,440 --> 00:11:54,520
Speaker 1: brain stuff that's brain stuff show dot com and shows

200
00:11:54,679 --> 00:11:57,600
Speaker 1: dot how stuff works dot com slash food stuff. We're

201
00:11:57,600 --> 00:12:00,520
Speaker 1: working on it. Also on social media. Look up food

202
00:12:00,559 --> 00:12:03,160
Speaker 1: stuff or just google Lauren vocal Bam. I'm literally the

203
00:12:03,200 --> 00:12:04,920
Speaker 1: only one on the planet. And I want to commend

204
00:12:04,960 --> 00:12:07,199
Speaker 1: you for being such an effective fact Genie that we

205
00:12:07,320 --> 00:12:09,839
Speaker 1: only really needed to Yeah, and one of them was

206
00:12:09,920 --> 00:12:12,880
Speaker 1: like a free one kind of so well done, thank you,

207
00:12:13,080 --> 00:12:17,199
Speaker 1: and we release you from your bonds, right we have

208
00:12:17,320 --> 00:12:26,079
Speaker 1: to say that, I think, so go go be free, Genie. Well, hey,

209
00:12:26,200 --> 00:12:29,000
Speaker 1: congratulations though, us man. That was not only our first

210
00:12:29,040 --> 00:12:31,760
Speaker 1: fact Genie segment, but we had a segment in a segment.

211
00:12:31,840 --> 00:12:33,120
Speaker 1: You know, it's not every day you get to do

212
00:12:33,320 --> 00:12:35,880
Speaker 1: a segment within a segment. I'm really glad though, that

213
00:12:35,920 --> 00:12:37,760
Speaker 1: we didn't like open up some sort of portal to

214
00:12:37,840 --> 00:12:41,680
Speaker 1: Hell with that disruption of the universe. Yeah, that's true.

215
00:12:41,800 --> 00:12:45,360
Speaker 1: We we were pushing the envelope just a bit. But

216
00:12:45,640 --> 00:12:49,160
Speaker 1: I believe the gambit was worth it because we learned

217
00:12:49,320 --> 00:12:51,439
Speaker 1: a lot in a very short span of time, and

218
00:12:51,640 --> 00:12:55,280
Speaker 1: we have set the broad brush context of the great

219
00:12:55,360 --> 00:12:59,640
Speaker 1: painting that is the Margarine butter War. So we established

220
00:12:59,720 --> 00:13:04,439
Speaker 1: that this margarine is French in origin and it is

221
00:13:04,640 --> 00:13:09,640
Speaker 1: designed at the time to fulfill a need because not everyone,

222
00:13:09,880 --> 00:13:12,800
Speaker 1: for one reason or another, would have access to butter,

223
00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:16,200
Speaker 1: despite the fact that it was often considered a staple. Yeah,

224
00:13:16,240 --> 00:13:19,479
Speaker 1: even in our story about Martin Luther and his relationship

225
00:13:19,520 --> 00:13:22,640
Speaker 1: with butter and indulgences in the Roman Catholic Church, butter

226
00:13:22,920 --> 00:13:26,240
Speaker 1: was kind of considered to be uh, not only a staple,

227
00:13:26,320 --> 00:13:29,800
Speaker 1: but a sign of opulence in some way. But notice

228
00:13:29,880 --> 00:13:33,679
Speaker 1: that we said for various reasons people might not be

229
00:13:33,800 --> 00:13:37,240
Speaker 1: able to access butter. It could be uh, it could

230
00:13:37,280 --> 00:13:41,079
Speaker 1: be related to a a social thing such as income

231
00:13:41,480 --> 00:13:44,760
Speaker 1: or the influence right of an institution like the Catholic Church.

232
00:13:45,080 --> 00:13:48,360
Speaker 1: It also could just be a matter of climate. And

233
00:13:48,600 --> 00:13:52,480
Speaker 1: that's where we journey to Newfoundland's right. In a paper

234
00:13:52,600 --> 00:13:56,760
Speaker 1: called Margarine in Newfoundland History by Wealth H. Hike from

235
00:13:56,800 --> 00:14:01,600
Speaker 1: Newfoundland and Studies to UM, he talks about the reason

236
00:14:01,679 --> 00:14:05,720
Speaker 1: that marjarine trade popped up in Newfoundland specifically was because

237
00:14:05,800 --> 00:14:09,840
Speaker 1: the climate is just not conducive to supporting a dairy

238
00:14:09,960 --> 00:14:15,080
Speaker 1: industry um cows they need a stable temperature nine months

239
00:14:15,120 --> 00:14:18,800
Speaker 1: of the year um. The costs were prohibitive for that region,

240
00:14:19,280 --> 00:14:23,720
Speaker 1: and because of that, there were no significant industrialized dairy

241
00:14:24,160 --> 00:14:28,280
Speaker 1: interests in Newfoundland at all. Right, so butter had to

242
00:14:28,440 --> 00:14:32,880
Speaker 1: be imported, and this created a market demand for something

243
00:14:33,000 --> 00:14:36,520
Speaker 1: to fill the gap, because importing something will automatically make

244
00:14:36,560 --> 00:14:39,680
Speaker 1: it more expensive in most cases. And this is where

245
00:14:40,040 --> 00:14:44,600
Speaker 1: people began to manufacture marjarine. Well, they heard tell, they

246
00:14:44,680 --> 00:14:49,360
Speaker 1: heard tell Ben of our French inventor, whose name I've

247
00:14:49,360 --> 00:14:52,640
Speaker 1: already forgotten how to pronounce correctly. But you can backtrack

248
00:14:52,720 --> 00:14:54,440
Speaker 1: to the casey on the case segment and you'll hear

249
00:14:54,440 --> 00:14:56,480
Speaker 1: all about it there. And it was blowing up in

250
00:14:56,520 --> 00:14:59,640
Speaker 1: the United States, and it went by the name of buttering.

251
00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:02,600
Speaker 1: At the time. It wasn't even called Oleo margarine there was,

252
00:15:02,760 --> 00:15:05,640
Speaker 1: Buttering was kind of the name that was being thrown around,

253
00:15:05,920 --> 00:15:08,120
Speaker 1: and they realized, Wow, we might have something on our

254
00:15:08,160 --> 00:15:11,760
Speaker 1: hands here that we can use as a butter substitute. Yes,

255
00:15:12,080 --> 00:15:15,400
Speaker 1: this is interesting historically because we already began to see

256
00:15:15,520 --> 00:15:21,080
Speaker 1: in sources of the time and contemporary sources the growing controversy.

257
00:15:21,680 --> 00:15:25,000
Speaker 1: The Daily Telegraph of London ran an article on misleading

258
00:15:25,120 --> 00:15:30,120
Speaker 1: packaging of buttering that the Newfoundlander paper in Newfoundland, oddly enough,

259
00:15:30,680 --> 00:15:36,600
Speaker 1: also carried in August of eighteen eighty three, and the

260
00:15:36,720 --> 00:15:40,640
Speaker 1: people of Newfoundland in general began concluding that this much

261
00:15:40,800 --> 00:15:44,400
Speaker 1: cheaper substitute, this buttering, could be beneficial, especially for the

262
00:15:44,480 --> 00:15:50,360
Speaker 1: poorer segments of society. So a merchant firm named Harvey

263
00:15:50,440 --> 00:15:55,160
Speaker 1: and Company begins to manufacture margarine or buttering in the

264
00:15:55,280 --> 00:15:58,520
Speaker 1: colony in eighteen eighty three. And not to get too

265
00:15:58,800 --> 00:16:01,320
Speaker 1: into the weeds with the history of the production of

266
00:16:01,400 --> 00:16:04,480
Speaker 1: margarine in the region, but at the end of a

267
00:16:04,600 --> 00:16:09,160
Speaker 1: handful of years there were three primary margarine interests um

268
00:16:09,280 --> 00:16:11,840
Speaker 1: and one of them, I think, hilariously enough, was called

269
00:16:11,840 --> 00:16:14,760
Speaker 1: the Newfoundland Butter Company. But they just made marjarine. It's

270
00:16:14,800 --> 00:16:17,640
Speaker 1: it's sort of like the Egg Company from our earlier episode.

271
00:16:17,640 --> 00:16:19,840
Speaker 1: What was that the Pacific Egg Company of the Pacific

272
00:16:19,880 --> 00:16:22,040
Speaker 1: Egg Company, But at least they had eggs the mark

273
00:16:22,120 --> 00:16:24,600
Speaker 1: the Newfoundland Butter Company and made no butter, right, that

274
00:16:24,840 --> 00:16:28,240
Speaker 1: is that is true. They were making margarine and the

275
00:16:28,400 --> 00:16:31,560
Speaker 1: thing that was amazing about this for someone of lower

276
00:16:31,680 --> 00:16:36,560
Speaker 1: income in Newfoundland was that since marjarine could be made

277
00:16:36,600 --> 00:16:40,080
Speaker 1: with a combination of vegetable, mineral, and animal oils, most

278
00:16:40,160 --> 00:16:43,240
Speaker 1: notably seal oil at this time, I know, that's that's

279
00:16:43,280 --> 00:16:46,320
Speaker 1: a rough one. The end result was that margarine was

280
00:16:46,880 --> 00:16:52,640
Speaker 1: incredibly cheaper to produce, and these costs trickled down to

281
00:16:53,120 --> 00:16:56,600
Speaker 1: the consumer and it looked like it might be a

282
00:16:56,760 --> 00:17:02,640
Speaker 1: win win for almost everybody in society. Almost almost, because

283
00:17:02,640 --> 00:17:06,920
Speaker 1: there was one group that very very very much opposed

284
00:17:07,280 --> 00:17:10,919
Speaker 1: the idea of cheap butter for the people. Butter substitute

285
00:17:10,960 --> 00:17:14,480
Speaker 1: big butter, big Canadian butter. Because at the time we

286
00:17:14,520 --> 00:17:19,520
Speaker 1: haven't mentioned this, Newfoundland wasn't part of Canada. No, it's colony, colony.

287
00:17:19,600 --> 00:17:22,000
Speaker 1: It was an English colony. And the English, you know,

288
00:17:22,160 --> 00:17:25,600
Speaker 1: they were a little more las fair about this production

289
00:17:25,640 --> 00:17:27,560
Speaker 1: of margin. They didn't see it as a threat. There

290
00:17:27,600 --> 00:17:29,280
Speaker 1: wasn't a whole lot of exporting they were. They were

291
00:17:29,320 --> 00:17:32,760
Speaker 1: doing it mainly to satisfy their own needs. But here's

292
00:17:32,800 --> 00:17:35,840
Speaker 1: the thing. Then, the people in Canada, even before Newfoundland

293
00:17:35,880 --> 00:17:40,640
Speaker 1: was incorporated into Canada, they wanted that margarine. Yeah, yeah,

294
00:17:40,680 --> 00:17:44,240
Speaker 1: they wandered to margarine, and you can easily see why.

295
00:17:45,240 --> 00:17:47,920
Speaker 1: Although you know, there there are gonna be many many people,

296
00:17:48,480 --> 00:17:52,000
Speaker 1: uh some of us in the studio today, folks who

297
00:17:52,080 --> 00:17:55,840
Speaker 1: will argue that butter is superior in terms of taste

298
00:17:55,880 --> 00:17:58,200
Speaker 1: to margarine. There's still many people who say, hey, you

299
00:17:58,240 --> 00:18:00,800
Speaker 1: know what, it's good enough and it's not breaking the bank.

300
00:18:01,119 --> 00:18:03,760
Speaker 1: The thing about it, too, is there were like health

301
00:18:04,520 --> 00:18:08,080
Speaker 1: considerations too, right, because these people that in Newfoundland have

302
00:18:08,160 --> 00:18:12,679
Speaker 1: become such loyal customers of this food stuff. There were

303
00:18:12,760 --> 00:18:15,840
Speaker 1: studies that went around in the Newfoundland region that showed

304
00:18:15,920 --> 00:18:19,720
Speaker 1: that folks there were quite deficient in some vitamins, vitamins

305
00:18:19,800 --> 00:18:22,520
Speaker 1: A and D, and they also found that margarine was

306
00:18:22,640 --> 00:18:25,440
Speaker 1: deficient in vitamins A and D. And you know, the

307
00:18:25,600 --> 00:18:29,000
Speaker 1: health benefits of marjarine versus butter have largely been called

308
00:18:29,040 --> 00:18:32,680
Speaker 1: into question because of things like saturated fat transfers transpat

309
00:18:32,720 --> 00:18:34,920
Speaker 1: which both have so you're supposed to use both of

310
00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:37,960
Speaker 1: them sparingly, right, But at this time, you know what

311
00:18:38,080 --> 00:18:40,639
Speaker 1: big Marjarine did in Newfoundland, they did a lot like

312
00:18:40,760 --> 00:18:44,159
Speaker 1: our pals that made the vitamin donuts. Yeah, they just

313
00:18:44,359 --> 00:18:47,600
Speaker 1: fortified that biz. Yeah, and they wanted to keep the

314
00:18:47,880 --> 00:18:50,840
Speaker 1: consumers incentivized to eat this. So now they could say,

315
00:18:50,960 --> 00:18:55,080
Speaker 1: not only is this more affordable than butter, but this

316
00:18:55,320 --> 00:18:59,440
Speaker 1: is also healthy or it's you know, fortified with for

317
00:18:59,560 --> 00:19:03,320
Speaker 1: any jamin doughnut listeners out there, so everyone could afford it.

318
00:19:03,440 --> 00:19:07,240
Speaker 1: Everyone got a little bit more vitamin A and d

319
00:19:07,480 --> 00:19:11,960
Speaker 1: intake for PEP for pep for for vigor. Right at

320
00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:15,200
Speaker 1: the time, as we said, Newfoundland was still a British colony,

321
00:19:15,720 --> 00:19:20,400
Speaker 1: but in nineteen forty nine it became part of Canada,

322
00:19:20,520 --> 00:19:24,240
Speaker 1: so that eighteen eighties six law banning marjarine in Canada

323
00:19:24,359 --> 00:19:27,119
Speaker 1: didn't apply to Newfoundland at the time because it was

324
00:19:27,200 --> 00:19:31,440
Speaker 1: a colony. And we're talking about the idea of bootlegging margarine.

325
00:19:31,800 --> 00:19:35,560
Speaker 1: Maybe that's a little loaded, but it's interesting because when

326
00:19:35,600 --> 00:19:37,800
Speaker 1: we say bootlegging, we're talking about bootlegging in the same

327
00:19:37,840 --> 00:19:43,240
Speaker 1: way that during Prohibition people would uh smuggle illegal booze.

328
00:19:43,400 --> 00:19:47,159
Speaker 1: They were making it themselves in stills or whatever. Right,

329
00:19:47,800 --> 00:19:50,480
Speaker 1: the marjarine thing was happening at the very same time

330
00:19:51,080 --> 00:19:55,440
Speaker 1: people were smuggling it from Newfoundland into the rest of Canada.

331
00:19:55,520 --> 00:19:58,639
Speaker 1: Because in Newfoundland, even when it got incorporated into the

332
00:19:58,720 --> 00:20:01,719
Speaker 1: Dominion of Canada, uh, they were still allowed to make

333
00:20:01,760 --> 00:20:04,720
Speaker 1: the stuff, they couldn't ship it anywhere else throughout the

334
00:20:04,880 --> 00:20:07,960
Speaker 1: entire country. It was totally isolated to Newfoundland, which is

335
00:20:08,040 --> 00:20:10,080
Speaker 1: a little bit isolated in and of itself. It's kind

336
00:20:10,080 --> 00:20:12,879
Speaker 1: of an island, right, yeah, it's it's it is a

337
00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:16,080
Speaker 1: little bit isolated. I would I I would argue from

338
00:20:16,200 --> 00:20:22,639
Speaker 1: our perspective down here, Canada's Parliament past federal legislation in nine,

339
00:20:23,119 --> 00:20:26,399
Speaker 1: the same year that Newfoundland became part of Canada, to

340
00:20:26,640 --> 00:20:30,399
Speaker 1: prohibit the manufacturing sale of margarine anywhere in Canada except

341
00:20:30,440 --> 00:20:33,960
Speaker 1: for two places, Newfoundland and Labrador, because they both had

342
00:20:34,040 --> 00:20:38,119
Speaker 1: this pre existing industrial base for the production of margarine, right.

343
00:20:38,160 --> 00:20:42,200
Speaker 1: The other one of Labrador being all the retrievers right yes, yes,

344
00:20:42,320 --> 00:20:45,919
Speaker 1: the famous home of all retrievers. That's where they come from. Um.

345
00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:48,800
Speaker 1: But this is the thing, the whole um joining up

346
00:20:48,880 --> 00:20:53,200
Speaker 1: Newfoundland with Canada. There are some caveats, ben because big

347
00:20:53,280 --> 00:20:57,960
Speaker 1: Butter put its big giant buttery foot down and influenced

348
00:20:58,200 --> 00:21:02,119
Speaker 1: lawmakers to the point we got this delightful little section

349
00:21:02,520 --> 00:21:06,480
Speaker 1: from the nineties nine British North American Act, Section forty six.

350
00:21:06,560 --> 00:21:10,360
Speaker 1: As it happens, OLEO margarine or margarine may be manufactured

351
00:21:10,480 --> 00:21:13,520
Speaker 1: or sold in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador after

352
00:21:13,640 --> 00:21:15,880
Speaker 1: the date of the Union, and the Parliament of Canada

353
00:21:16,080 --> 00:21:20,120
Speaker 1: shall not prohibit or restrict such manufacture or sale accepted

354
00:21:20,160 --> 00:21:22,920
Speaker 1: the request of the legislature of the Province of Newfoundland.

355
00:21:23,200 --> 00:21:26,040
Speaker 1: But nothing in this term shall affect the power of

356
00:21:26,119 --> 00:21:29,720
Speaker 1: the Parliament of Canada to require compliance with standards of

357
00:21:29,800 --> 00:21:34,159
Speaker 1: quality acceptable throughout Canada. That's the set up, and now

358
00:21:34,240 --> 00:21:36,040
Speaker 1: we'd like to Now we'd like to share where the

359
00:21:36,080 --> 00:21:39,959
Speaker 1: rubber hits the road legislatively big time number two, unless

360
00:21:40,040 --> 00:21:43,040
Speaker 1: the Parliament of Canada otherwise provides, or unless the sale

361
00:21:43,280 --> 00:21:47,560
Speaker 1: and manufacture in and the interprovincial movement between all provinces

362
00:21:47,600 --> 00:21:51,080
Speaker 1: of Canada other than Newfoundland and Labrador of oleo, margarine

363
00:21:51,160 --> 00:21:53,560
Speaker 1: and margarine. It's interesting they call them two different things.

364
00:21:53,600 --> 00:21:55,920
Speaker 1: We did not realize that was the case. Uh is lawful.

365
00:21:56,160 --> 00:21:58,800
Speaker 1: Under the laws of Canada. Oleomargin or margarine shall not

366
00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:02,879
Speaker 1: be sent, shipped, brought, or carried from the Province of

367
00:22:02,920 --> 00:22:07,119
Speaker 1: Newfoundland and Labrador into any other province of Canada. So

368
00:22:07,280 --> 00:22:11,760
Speaker 1: there you got the black market marjarine trade popping up overnight.

369
00:22:12,280 --> 00:22:15,640
Speaker 1: It wasn't overnight though, because it was already happening, right. Yeah,

370
00:22:15,720 --> 00:22:17,240
Speaker 1: It wasn't like all of a sudden Canada was like,

371
00:22:17,359 --> 00:22:19,560
Speaker 1: what is this magical marjarine? They knew what it was.

372
00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:22,160
Speaker 1: You could get to Newfoundland. People knew each other. They

373
00:22:22,359 --> 00:22:25,280
Speaker 1: you know, they talked. But the dairy industry does have

374
00:22:25,960 --> 00:22:29,200
Speaker 1: profound influence at this point, and they didn't just wage

375
00:22:29,280 --> 00:22:32,840
Speaker 1: the war in the halls of parliament. They also waged

376
00:22:32,920 --> 00:22:37,080
Speaker 1: the war in the public domain. It's interesting. In the

377
00:22:37,160 --> 00:22:40,960
Speaker 1: Dupre paper, Uh, the author says that in both the

378
00:22:41,040 --> 00:22:45,440
Speaker 1: United States and Canada, the people who were prosecuting against

379
00:22:45,560 --> 00:22:48,920
Speaker 1: margarine argued that they were acting in the public interest.

380
00:22:49,600 --> 00:22:51,800
Speaker 1: In one case, and this goes back to that quotation

381
00:22:51,840 --> 00:22:55,320
Speaker 1: you had earlier, they would say that they were protecting

382
00:22:55,480 --> 00:22:59,119
Speaker 1: consumers from a product that was injurious to health, or

383
00:22:59,240 --> 00:23:02,840
Speaker 1: they were protecting people from the fraudulent sale of margarine

384
00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:04,880
Speaker 1: as butter. And that is the thing that we see

385
00:23:05,160 --> 00:23:08,480
Speaker 1: in the United States side of this story as well.

386
00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:12,200
Speaker 1: In a story from the New York Times from eighteen

387
00:23:12,359 --> 00:23:15,840
Speaker 1: seventy seven, we have this quote. Christopher Strauss, a grocer

388
00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:19,640
Speaker 1: of number sixteen Second Avenue, was arraigned before Justice Murray

389
00:23:19,680 --> 00:23:22,800
Speaker 1: in the fifty seven Street Police court yesterday charged with

390
00:23:22,920 --> 00:23:26,840
Speaker 1: selling OLEO margarine representing it to be pure butter. S A. Churchill,

391
00:23:26,880 --> 00:23:29,440
Speaker 1: a former manufacturer of the artificial article and who was

392
00:23:29,480 --> 00:23:33,040
Speaker 1: now employed as a detective by the Butter and Cheese Exchange,

393
00:23:33,400 --> 00:23:37,720
Speaker 1: appeared as complaint. Yeah, and this this is strange because

394
00:23:37,800 --> 00:23:41,640
Speaker 1: it turns out those accusations of fraud are pretty well founded.

395
00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:45,200
Speaker 1: Margarine was often sold as buttered because both could be

396
00:23:45,280 --> 00:23:48,919
Speaker 1: sold in bulk, and it was virtually impossible to distinguish

397
00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:52,760
Speaker 1: between the two by sensory examination, you know, So like

398
00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:56,200
Speaker 1: if you if you and I just saw blocks of

399
00:23:56,800 --> 00:23:58,800
Speaker 1: marginal one side, butter on one side, and they were

400
00:23:58,800 --> 00:24:02,160
Speaker 1: made to look relatively I enticle, we wouldn't be able

401
00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:06,280
Speaker 1: to tell without a little bit more in depth investigation.

402
00:24:06,560 --> 00:24:10,280
Speaker 1: And there's a there's a weird thing here because from

403
00:24:10,480 --> 00:24:14,840
Speaker 1: its inception or a multiple times throughout history, butter was

404
00:24:15,160 --> 00:24:18,400
Speaker 1: regulated the same way you would regulate the so called

405
00:24:18,560 --> 00:24:23,240
Speaker 1: vice products like tobacco or alcohol of some sort, which

406
00:24:23,320 --> 00:24:27,359
Speaker 1: is strange because it's not going to affect you mentally, Right,

407
00:24:27,400 --> 00:24:29,880
Speaker 1: You're not going to get a butter buzz, or maybe

408
00:24:30,080 --> 00:24:33,520
Speaker 1: you and I just haven't eaten enough butter and I

409
00:24:33,600 --> 00:24:36,560
Speaker 1: love the phrase butter buzz dude. I mean sometimes I

410
00:24:36,640 --> 00:24:38,880
Speaker 1: just take a bite out of a stick of butter,

411
00:24:39,080 --> 00:24:43,440
Speaker 1: just just to feel that euphoric rush, some a dopamine sensors.

412
00:24:43,680 --> 00:24:47,080
Speaker 1: I saw the guy at a baseball game casually eating

413
00:24:47,119 --> 00:24:49,800
Speaker 1: a stick of butter. That's a fair food. They deep

414
00:24:49,840 --> 00:24:51,879
Speaker 1: fry a stick of butter. They'll deep fry anything at

415
00:24:51,920 --> 00:24:53,800
Speaker 1: a fair now, and a stick of butter. It's apparently

416
00:24:53,880 --> 00:24:55,720
Speaker 1: the wave of the future. It's crazy. It looked like

417
00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:58,000
Speaker 1: he bought it from home, Like he had the foil

418
00:24:58,200 --> 00:25:00,159
Speaker 1: and it was unwrapping it and he just are to

419
00:25:00,240 --> 00:25:02,840
Speaker 1: eating it. It's a brave new world, my friend. It's

420
00:25:02,840 --> 00:25:06,200
Speaker 1: a brave new world, Knoll. And this was a brave

421
00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:11,920
Speaker 1: new trade front right because there's market demand. Big Dairy

422
00:25:12,240 --> 00:25:17,119
Speaker 1: is fighting tooth and nail against this. And as as

423
00:25:17,200 --> 00:25:19,359
Speaker 1: we had said, I I think we'd be remiss if

424
00:25:19,400 --> 00:25:21,359
Speaker 1: we didn't spend just a little bit of time on

425
00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:25,639
Speaker 1: the United States version of this conflict totally, man, I

426
00:25:25,680 --> 00:25:28,520
Speaker 1: think we've drawn the parallels between the two situations. How

427
00:25:28,760 --> 00:25:32,359
Speaker 1: you know, the American story definitely influenced the Canadian um

428
00:25:32,440 --> 00:25:34,480
Speaker 1: because all this was kind of happening around the same time.

429
00:25:34,600 --> 00:25:37,640
Speaker 1: But there are some very interesting little fact nuggets from

430
00:25:37,840 --> 00:25:40,680
Speaker 1: the American side that we have not mentioned yet. Yes,

431
00:25:41,040 --> 00:25:45,080
Speaker 1: we owe it to everyone, ourselves included, to dive a

432
00:25:45,160 --> 00:25:49,240
Speaker 1: little deeper into the butter churn of big dairy in

433
00:25:49,320 --> 00:25:54,359
Speaker 1: the United States, so in the Midwest, in Wisconsin specifically,

434
00:25:54,440 --> 00:25:57,359
Speaker 1: in other states like Minnesota and such. This was a

435
00:25:57,440 --> 00:26:02,879
Speaker 1: tremendous deal because dairy was a huge, hugely influential industry, right,

436
00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:05,200
Speaker 1: and it provided a lot of jobs. It was super

437
00:26:05,240 --> 00:26:09,280
Speaker 1: crucial to the economy. And the governors and the senators

438
00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:12,960
Speaker 1: and the representatives understood this, and they were all kind

439
00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:15,560
Speaker 1: of many of them were running to be on the

440
00:26:15,680 --> 00:26:18,600
Speaker 1: side of of butter and dairy right and to fight

441
00:26:19,200 --> 00:26:23,040
Speaker 1: the perfidious threat of margarine, especially if they were representing

442
00:26:23,080 --> 00:26:26,359
Speaker 1: constituents who had those jobs and depended on those jobs.

443
00:26:26,880 --> 00:26:30,200
Speaker 1: I'm sure there was also some some palm greasing but

444
00:26:30,400 --> 00:26:33,320
Speaker 1: buttering of palms going on, but you know, at the

445
00:26:33,400 --> 00:26:35,840
Speaker 1: end of the day, they were looking out for their constituents,

446
00:26:36,080 --> 00:26:39,080
Speaker 1: possibly a little too vehemently. But what happened. Yeah, there

447
00:26:39,119 --> 00:26:43,359
Speaker 1: was a fantastic example we found in a national geographic

448
00:26:43,440 --> 00:26:46,320
Speaker 1: account written by Rebecca Rupp called the Butter Wars when

449
00:26:46,400 --> 00:26:49,760
Speaker 1: margarine was pink. That's a little spoiler for you later too,

450
00:26:50,280 --> 00:26:55,119
Speaker 1: And it concerns a Wisconsin taste test in nineteen fifty

451
00:26:55,240 --> 00:26:58,680
Speaker 1: five in which senators were blindfolded and they were It's

452
00:26:58,680 --> 00:27:01,480
Speaker 1: sort of like the Pepsi challenge. If anybody remembers that

453
00:27:01,680 --> 00:27:04,680
Speaker 1: from what was that the nineties or so? Yeah, yeah,

454
00:27:04,680 --> 00:27:06,480
Speaker 1: I think that, you know, an when Michael Jackson set

455
00:27:06,480 --> 00:27:10,240
Speaker 1: his hair on fire. Taste of a new Generation. And

456
00:27:10,640 --> 00:27:13,680
Speaker 1: the reason we bring this up is because the arrangement

457
00:27:13,800 --> 00:27:17,199
Speaker 1: was essentially the same. These senators were blindfolded and they

458
00:27:17,280 --> 00:27:19,879
Speaker 1: had to taste butter and they had to taste margarine

459
00:27:20,240 --> 00:27:22,680
Speaker 1: and tell the difference between the two, which, of course,

460
00:27:23,160 --> 00:27:26,680
Speaker 1: they all claimed that they could do, no question, And

461
00:27:26,840 --> 00:27:31,080
Speaker 1: most of these folks were not fooled, except famously, a

462
00:27:31,200 --> 00:27:36,520
Speaker 1: guy named Gordon rose Lip. Yeah. He was extremely pro butter,

463
00:27:36,600 --> 00:27:39,920
Speaker 1: a huge advocate of butter, and he tasted it and

464
00:27:40,240 --> 00:27:43,720
Speaker 1: he got it wrong. He preferred the margarine consistently. He

465
00:27:43,880 --> 00:27:46,520
Speaker 1: told the people who were testing him, who, of course

466
00:27:46,560 --> 00:27:49,560
Speaker 1: we're not wearing blindfolds, that they were wrong and they

467
00:27:49,720 --> 00:27:52,560
Speaker 1: must have mixed it up because he knew his butter

468
00:27:52,920 --> 00:27:57,520
Speaker 1: by gum. Yeah, there is, there is yes, because it

469
00:27:57,720 --> 00:28:01,040
Speaker 1: turned out that his why have been worried about her

470
00:28:01,119 --> 00:28:05,440
Speaker 1: husband's health, specifically his heart, and for years she had

471
00:28:05,520 --> 00:28:10,040
Speaker 1: been sneaking this guy yellow margarine, which was illegal at

472
00:28:10,040 --> 00:28:14,040
Speaker 1: the time, at dinner, at lunch, whenever they ate at

473
00:28:14,080 --> 00:28:20,960
Speaker 1: the house. So he literally had no idea what butter

474
00:28:21,480 --> 00:28:24,000
Speaker 1: was supposed to taste like. You must have forgotten. Yeah,

475
00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:25,640
Speaker 1: I bet he didn't want to get that out though,

476
00:28:25,640 --> 00:28:28,359
Speaker 1: because that would have been a pretty soaring co sign

477
00:28:28,560 --> 00:28:37,760
Speaker 1: on how convincing that butter substitute is. Oh, and we

478
00:28:37,840 --> 00:28:41,120
Speaker 1: do want to add one thing here, one point of order, uh,

479
00:28:41,680 --> 00:28:44,520
Speaker 1: just while it's on our minds. We earlier said that

480
00:28:44,680 --> 00:28:50,720
Speaker 1: the Canadian prohibition was from eighteen eighty six until nine,

481
00:28:50,760 --> 00:28:53,600
Speaker 1: when they allowed at Newfoundland and Labrador. There was a

482
00:28:53,920 --> 00:28:57,440
Speaker 1: brief shining moment from margarine during that time, and that

483
00:28:57,600 --> 00:29:01,080
Speaker 1: was between nineteen seventeen and nineteen twenty two when the

484
00:29:01,120 --> 00:29:04,680
Speaker 1: band was lifted due to the War Measure Act. Just

485
00:29:04,760 --> 00:29:08,120
Speaker 1: scarcity of of food stuts in general and stuff. Yeah, well,

486
00:29:08,120 --> 00:29:09,960
Speaker 1: well we'll give you a pass. But then it was

487
00:29:10,120 --> 00:29:12,720
Speaker 1: back in full effect. But what's what's the deal with

488
00:29:12,800 --> 00:29:16,320
Speaker 1: margarine in Canada? Now? Then? It's interesting that we get

489
00:29:16,400 --> 00:29:21,160
Speaker 1: to this point because as of recent history, butter has

490
00:29:21,400 --> 00:29:27,520
Speaker 1: surpassed margarine as America's favorite spread. Now people are eating

491
00:29:27,760 --> 00:29:30,200
Speaker 1: on average five point six pounds of butter a year

492
00:29:30,320 --> 00:29:33,480
Speaker 1: as opposed to three point five pounds of margarine. The

493
00:29:33,560 --> 00:29:36,400
Speaker 1: marjarine is still doing gangbusters in both Canada and the

494
00:29:36,520 --> 00:29:39,040
Speaker 1: United States. Right, yeah, yeah, we're just now we're just

495
00:29:39,080 --> 00:29:43,240
Speaker 1: talking about like their um their comparison, but by no

496
00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:47,600
Speaker 1: means is either industry small. When did dwin Did Canada

497
00:29:47,800 --> 00:29:51,400
Speaker 1: finally bite the bullet and say, okay, all are welcome,

498
00:29:51,920 --> 00:29:56,080
Speaker 1: you know, make make your make your food substitutes. Oh yeah,

499
00:29:56,120 --> 00:30:01,400
Speaker 1: it went provincial similar to the way that uh in

500
00:30:01,600 --> 00:30:04,120
Speaker 1: some regards no one on one comparison. But it's similar

501
00:30:04,160 --> 00:30:07,600
Speaker 1: to the way that marijuana began to be treated differently.

502
00:30:08,480 --> 00:30:12,800
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, yeah, So provinces could have their own sort

503
00:30:12,840 --> 00:30:18,720
Speaker 1: of serenity over that law, and they didn't all legalized margarine.

504
00:30:18,760 --> 00:30:21,800
Speaker 1: At the same time, there were some holdouts. Quebec had

505
00:30:22,320 --> 00:30:25,960
Speaker 1: a band specifically on colorized margarine because it could look

506
00:30:26,040 --> 00:30:29,480
Speaker 1: like butter, and that band wasn't repealed until two thousand

507
00:30:29,560 --> 00:30:33,720
Speaker 1: and eight because like margarine in its natural state, I

508
00:30:33,760 --> 00:30:37,320
Speaker 1: guess is white. I think it's pure white um, and

509
00:30:37,600 --> 00:30:39,640
Speaker 1: it's it was different too. And this this came into

510
00:30:39,680 --> 00:30:42,480
Speaker 1: play in the American story where you had stuff like

511
00:30:42,600 --> 00:30:47,640
Speaker 1: crisco that was a food substitute, but it was not

512
00:30:47,840 --> 00:30:50,080
Speaker 1: something you would like eat on its own. It would

513
00:30:50,080 --> 00:30:52,280
Speaker 1: be part of cooking and be part of baked goods,

514
00:30:52,480 --> 00:30:55,480
Speaker 1: whereas margarine was a spread, so you had to interact

515
00:30:55,560 --> 00:30:58,040
Speaker 1: with it in its current form and you would see it.

516
00:30:58,400 --> 00:31:01,640
Speaker 1: So there was a time where when in the United

517
00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:06,800
Speaker 1: States that colorization of margarine was banned. There was a

518
00:31:06,920 --> 00:31:10,880
Speaker 1: company that even had like little packets that came with

519
00:31:11,040 --> 00:31:14,800
Speaker 1: it so you could diet yourself. That reminds me of

520
00:31:14,880 --> 00:31:19,680
Speaker 1: the old Great concentrate blocks that were sold during Prohibition,

521
00:31:20,080 --> 00:31:23,000
Speaker 1: where they said the instructions on the box would say

522
00:31:23,040 --> 00:31:27,160
Speaker 1: things like don't do the following steps because you will

523
00:31:27,240 --> 00:31:31,400
Speaker 1: create wine. Okay. Whenever I hear the words steps and wine,

524
00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:33,720
Speaker 1: I always think of that, uh, that woman at the

525
00:31:33,760 --> 00:31:36,400
Speaker 1: winery that's stumping on the grapes and then falls out,

526
00:31:36,480 --> 00:31:50,880
Speaker 1: and just like, oh, no, I think she's actually hurt. No,

527
00:31:51,040 --> 00:31:55,600
Speaker 1: I think she is. It's just the saddest sound. Beautifully

528
00:31:55,640 --> 00:31:59,560
Speaker 1: portrayed in Family Guy um. But back to America just

529
00:31:59,680 --> 00:32:01,520
Speaker 1: brief and we we set this up earlier with some

530
00:32:01,640 --> 00:32:04,880
Speaker 1: of the quote, some of the anti margarine propaganda that

531
00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:08,400
Speaker 1: Big Butter put out. Um. You know, Canadians are are

532
00:32:08,640 --> 00:32:10,800
Speaker 1: they have a reputation as being a little more civil

533
00:32:11,040 --> 00:32:13,520
Speaker 1: and friendly perhaps than we are. And it does seem

534
00:32:13,600 --> 00:32:16,520
Speaker 1: like the stories are a little out of whack with

535
00:32:16,640 --> 00:32:20,680
Speaker 1: one another, whereas the American side, boy, were they ruthless

536
00:32:21,160 --> 00:32:23,720
Speaker 1: and awful? And you know, there was actually some kind

537
00:32:23,720 --> 00:32:27,440
Speaker 1: of faux scientists that were employed, um and presented some

538
00:32:27,640 --> 00:32:31,760
Speaker 1: findings quote unquote in a Chicago newspaper. UM. And this

539
00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:35,840
Speaker 1: this guy's name was Professor Piper, just Professor Piper. And

540
00:32:36,240 --> 00:32:41,800
Speaker 1: he said that he did analyzes of margarine samples, UM

541
00:32:42,120 --> 00:32:46,800
Speaker 1: and and this was in five and in his analyzes, UM,

542
00:32:46,920 --> 00:32:51,200
Speaker 1: he claimed to have found these the best samples had

543
00:32:51,240 --> 00:32:54,000
Speaker 1: many kinds of living organisms in them, with masses of

544
00:32:54,120 --> 00:33:00,560
Speaker 1: dead mold, bits of cellulose, various colored particles, shreds of hair, bristles, etcetera.

545
00:33:00,880 --> 00:33:04,840
Speaker 1: Well other samples teamed with life. Doubtful portions of worms

546
00:33:04,920 --> 00:33:09,200
Speaker 1: were also noticed. Core pustles from a cockroach, small bits

547
00:33:09,280 --> 00:33:13,280
Speaker 1: of claws, corpuscles of sheep the egg of a tape warm.

548
00:33:13,360 --> 00:33:16,080
Speaker 1: It sounds like a witch's brew. And what as I

549
00:33:16,240 --> 00:33:19,680
Speaker 1: have Newton here, what's the threshold for a doubtful amount

550
00:33:19,720 --> 00:33:23,800
Speaker 1: of worms? Yeah? Unclear. All I'm saying is Man America,

551
00:33:24,160 --> 00:33:26,600
Speaker 1: you mean, be more like Canada. At least they were

552
00:33:26,640 --> 00:33:29,360
Speaker 1: civil about their muddern war and it was also propaganda.

553
00:33:29,440 --> 00:33:31,760
Speaker 1: They let Newfoundland keep doing it because they just really

554
00:33:31,840 --> 00:33:36,160
Speaker 1: liked it. Yeah, and also where they the economic argument

555
00:33:36,280 --> 00:33:38,040
Speaker 1: is pretty tough to sell, like, no, you have to

556
00:33:38,200 --> 00:33:42,440
Speaker 1: keep importing butter and pain much more. That's not gonna fly, right.

557
00:33:43,120 --> 00:33:47,440
Speaker 1: Pro butter cartoonists in the United States also drew these

558
00:33:47,520 --> 00:33:50,560
Speaker 1: hit pieces on margarine where they have a visual depiction

559
00:33:50,800 --> 00:33:53,360
Speaker 1: of the stuff that you just mentioned they had. They

560
00:33:53,440 --> 00:33:58,880
Speaker 1: put straight cats in margarine and soap paint, arsenic rubber boots.

561
00:33:59,720 --> 00:34:02,680
Speaker 1: There is also an implication by somebody who's probably as

562
00:34:02,840 --> 00:34:09,520
Speaker 1: legit as Professor Piper that marjarine might cause insanity marjarine madness. Huh. Well,

563
00:34:09,560 --> 00:34:11,239
Speaker 1: there's a lot to both sides of this story. I'm

564
00:34:11,280 --> 00:34:15,680
Speaker 1: just again praising Canada for their prevailing level headedness and

565
00:34:15,920 --> 00:34:18,920
Speaker 1: and u s history. You can chill out a little bit,

566
00:34:19,239 --> 00:34:21,919
Speaker 1: but I think we can wrap this story up, yes,

567
00:34:22,120 --> 00:34:23,640
Speaker 1: And the best way for us to wrap it up

568
00:34:23,880 --> 00:34:27,120
Speaker 1: is to note that this is not in any way

569
00:34:27,320 --> 00:34:31,040
Speaker 1: unique phenomenon. And in the course of digging into this,

570
00:34:31,400 --> 00:34:35,000
Speaker 1: we found some what would you call them analogs I guess, so, yeah,

571
00:34:35,040 --> 00:34:38,319
Speaker 1: that's totally accurate. So you and I both found a couple.

572
00:34:38,480 --> 00:34:41,320
Speaker 1: One conflict that surprised me from our current day is

573
00:34:41,760 --> 00:34:46,960
Speaker 1: the conflict between municipal broadband and telecoms. It's a similar

574
00:34:47,040 --> 00:34:50,800
Speaker 1: situation where and you know, there's one part of country

575
00:34:50,960 --> 00:34:54,080
Speaker 1: or a state or region where they say we want

576
00:34:54,200 --> 00:34:58,279
Speaker 1: to build a telecoms substitute for lack of a better word, right,

577
00:34:58,680 --> 00:35:02,120
Speaker 1: and then the telecoms will use their influence to sty

578
00:35:02,280 --> 00:35:05,920
Speaker 1: me this in hopes of preserving their own established industry.

579
00:35:06,200 --> 00:35:08,200
Speaker 1: So we want to be clear this isn't just food.

580
00:35:08,480 --> 00:35:11,440
Speaker 1: But boy, we did find food comparisons to yeah, lots,

581
00:35:11,520 --> 00:35:13,359
Speaker 1: and my favorite is because mainly I like to say

582
00:35:13,400 --> 00:35:17,040
Speaker 1: it is nut milk. Big dairy is out to get

583
00:35:17,520 --> 00:35:19,879
Speaker 1: nut milk. And when I say that, I mean things

584
00:35:20,040 --> 00:35:23,759
Speaker 1: like almond milk, um cash. You milk is even a thing,

585
00:35:23,960 --> 00:35:27,400
Speaker 1: and of course, so a milk and a representative of

586
00:35:27,680 --> 00:35:31,920
Speaker 1: the national Milk Producers Federation said this in a case

587
00:35:32,160 --> 00:35:35,560
Speaker 1: that was levied against one of the big manufacturers of

588
00:35:35,920 --> 00:35:38,239
Speaker 1: some of those nut milks. He says, mammals produced milk

589
00:35:38,600 --> 00:35:42,200
Speaker 1: plants dun't. This guy's name was Jim mulherne, same last

590
00:35:42,280 --> 00:35:44,399
Speaker 1: name as my my buddy Frank. I wonder if he's

591
00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:47,759
Speaker 1: um secretly part of Big Dairy. Yeah, Frank listens to

592
00:35:47,920 --> 00:35:50,399
Speaker 1: our show. So hey, Frank, let us know, man, spill

593
00:35:50,480 --> 00:35:52,600
Speaker 1: the beans. We want to know your secret life as

594
00:35:52,640 --> 00:35:55,040
Speaker 1: a as a dairy soldier. But now here's the thing.

595
00:35:55,160 --> 00:35:57,680
Speaker 1: It's in the same way that big butter. You know,

596
00:35:57,719 --> 00:35:59,160
Speaker 1: we'll call it big dairy. We can lump it all

597
00:35:59,200 --> 00:36:02,360
Speaker 1: under Big Dairy, trying to protect their interests, protect their turf.

598
00:36:02,680 --> 00:36:05,960
Speaker 1: They're doing the same thing today with products like these,

599
00:36:06,040 --> 00:36:08,360
Speaker 1: the soy based products, And they're basically saying that the

600
00:36:08,600 --> 00:36:11,360
Speaker 1: use of the words like soy milk, almond milk that

601
00:36:11,400 --> 00:36:14,040
Speaker 1: are put together, they're joined together as one words um.

602
00:36:14,160 --> 00:36:15,920
Speaker 1: The dairy industry says that that's just sort of a

603
00:36:16,000 --> 00:36:18,479
Speaker 1: cheap way of getting away with using the word milk,

604
00:36:18,680 --> 00:36:22,960
Speaker 1: which again they say exclusively comes from mammals. Um. This

605
00:36:23,160 --> 00:36:26,240
Speaker 1: came from an article called dairy producers targeting quote fake

606
00:36:26,360 --> 00:36:31,440
Speaker 1: milk in latest food fight from CTV News, and this

607
00:36:31,600 --> 00:36:35,480
Speaker 1: is how the Plant Based Foods Association responded. They say

608
00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:38,719
Speaker 1: that it's it's it's a different animal entirely from what

609
00:36:38,760 --> 00:36:41,480
Speaker 1: they're talking about. They say, these companies are charging more

610
00:36:41,560 --> 00:36:45,320
Speaker 1: money because consumers are gravitating towards them. I think that

611
00:36:45,520 --> 00:36:48,399
Speaker 1: says it all right there. You know the margarine thing,

612
00:36:48,600 --> 00:36:51,839
Speaker 1: it was cheaper, you could I'm not saying that Big

613
00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:53,920
Speaker 1: Butter was doing the right thing at all, and they

614
00:36:53,960 --> 00:36:56,399
Speaker 1: were clearly jerks about it, but you know, I could

615
00:36:56,400 --> 00:36:58,959
Speaker 1: see that as being a legitimate threat. Nobody is buying

616
00:36:59,080 --> 00:37:02,720
Speaker 1: soy milk because they think it's milk, and they certainly

617
00:37:02,719 --> 00:37:04,759
Speaker 1: aren't getting a sweet deal on it. That stuff is

618
00:37:04,760 --> 00:37:08,759
Speaker 1: pretty pricey. And with this, we would like to hear

619
00:37:09,000 --> 00:37:13,279
Speaker 1: from you, folks, what's your take on margarine versus butter?

620
00:37:13,440 --> 00:37:15,480
Speaker 1: Do you have a preference? Do you feel that one

621
00:37:15,600 --> 00:37:19,879
Speaker 1: legitimately taste better? Would you ever? I think most people

622
00:37:19,920 --> 00:37:23,080
Speaker 1: are gonna say no, but would you ever smuggle margarine?

623
00:37:23,239 --> 00:37:26,560
Speaker 1: Because Casey Nolan I might have a job for you.

624
00:37:26,800 --> 00:37:29,120
Speaker 1: Then I know you've been waiting for it. Butter smuggler

625
00:37:29,760 --> 00:37:32,919
Speaker 1: whenever I just let's be clear, I just want to say,

626
00:37:32,960 --> 00:37:35,400
Speaker 1: butter smuggler. It's been bugging me all week and I

627
00:37:35,480 --> 00:37:37,600
Speaker 1: know we're talking about Margarine smuggling. So there is our

628
00:37:37,719 --> 00:37:41,360
Speaker 1: only chance to say I'm glad you finally got that chance,

629
00:37:41,560 --> 00:37:43,640
Speaker 1: and we hope you'll take a chance and write us

630
00:37:43,680 --> 00:37:46,319
Speaker 1: a ridiculous at how stuff Works dot com. You can

631
00:37:46,360 --> 00:37:48,759
Speaker 1: also hit us up on social media on Facebook or

632
00:37:48,960 --> 00:37:52,319
Speaker 1: Ridiculous History, or on Twitter where we're at Ridiculous History

633
00:37:52,360 --> 00:37:55,040
Speaker 1: and Instagram. And we're still toying with the idea of

634
00:37:55,280 --> 00:37:58,600
Speaker 1: bringing back the joke about not doing a pinterest so

635
00:37:59,040 --> 00:38:01,040
Speaker 1: right and is it a joke? We want to thank

636
00:38:01,120 --> 00:38:03,960
Speaker 1: everybody who wrote in it told us that they missed

637
00:38:04,280 --> 00:38:08,040
Speaker 1: us continually debating whether or not we will ever have

638
00:38:08,160 --> 00:38:11,279
Speaker 1: a pinterest. So we're thinking about maybe bringing that debate back,

639
00:38:11,360 --> 00:38:13,960
Speaker 1: but we're definitely still never gonna have a pinterest, right,

640
00:38:14,120 --> 00:38:16,880
Speaker 1: Maybe we'll put it. We'll put a pint artist in it.

641
00:38:17,360 --> 00:38:20,799
Speaker 1: Uh So thanks to everyone who already wrote into us,

642
00:38:20,880 --> 00:38:23,280
Speaker 1: and we look forward to hearing from everyone in the future.

643
00:38:23,480 --> 00:38:26,640
Speaker 1: As always, we want to thank our long suffering super producer,

644
00:38:26,760 --> 00:38:30,720
Speaker 1: Casey Pegro and Candice Gibson, who wrote the awesome article

645
00:38:30,960 --> 00:38:33,880
Speaker 1: on the butter Wars for our parent website, House up

646
00:38:33,960 --> 00:38:36,520
Speaker 1: works dot com. Not to mention Alex Williams, who composed

647
00:38:36,560 --> 00:38:40,600
Speaker 1: our theme and today's resident fact genie Lauren Vogelbaum, who

648
00:38:40,880 --> 00:38:46,600
Speaker 1: dropped in um under complete darress. Yes, yes, and most

649
00:38:46,840 --> 00:38:50,280
Speaker 1: especially thank you for listening and we hope you'll continue

650
00:38:50,280 --> 00:38:51,680
Speaker 1: doing that and hang out with us next time for

651
00:38:51,719 --> 00:38:53,960
Speaker 1: another episode of ridiculous History. Take care everyone,