I grew up in a margarine household, because back in the day, everyone knew that Butter Is Bad and Margarine Is Marvelous.
Fast forward [mumblety] years, and the equation is now different. Maybe. Sorta. Butter isn't great for you, but transfatty margarines are distinctly worse, but some are getting better, but butter tastes like butter.
So I live in a butter household these days (in part due to living with a Swedish-American), and … well, I'm enjoying it.
Here's a fun video on some of the scientific differences between them. I'll close with two bits of trivia:
1. Margarine was invented in Napoleonic France, as a means to supply the Emperor's armies.
2. Big Dairy in the US was terrified of margarine for many, many years, and many states had requirements that margarine (which is naturally white, kinda like Crisco) couldn't be colored to look like butter (it's all about consumer protection and truth in labeling, right?). For folk growing up in the generation before me, margarine came with a separate little color capsule that you could then blend into the stuff yourself to make it look palatable.
Originally shared by +Les Jenkins:
Is it actually marge? In the UK Olive Oil spread is very popular as a butter substitute, and you can not buy margarine any more.