Is a life without butter a life worth living?

[Barbas]

* * *​

Considering that people were once bought, sold and killed over the once exotic and now mundane contents of the salt and pepper pots on our tables, I don't think it's all that outlandish to say butter is extremely important to a large proportion of Earth's steadily fattening population. Is it vital, though, or just a luxury we can and should do without?

Could you live your life without consuming any butter? Would you want to? Why/why not? What do you normally add it to or spread it on?

I like to add a little bit of butter to my crumpets. And also a sprinkle of salt and pepper to complement the flavour and soothe some of that guilt over the slave trade my unhealthy diet.

 

[Jamash]

I don't spread butter things (as I tend just to use sauce/relish in sandwiches and rarely eat anything else that requires spread, or if I do just eat them 'dry'), however I do use butter in place of oil for all the cooking I do.

In my opinion, food fried or cooked in butter instead of oil tastes so much better, to the extent that I don't think I could go back to using oil (especially in the cases of roast vegetables and fried onions).

 

[Albino Boo]

As someone who had a mini stroke 2 months ago and having the choice of eating less butter or dying, butter is rather easy to give up. My cholesterol was only slightly high but post TIA(mini stroke) they want your cholesterol below 3.4 permanently. The thing about a lot of the medical advice is that it is an abstraction until something bad happens to you. By the time you are talking on the phone to the ambulance control centre at 5am with a paralysed left arm, blank spots in your vision and wondering if you will die before help arrives its too late for many people.

 

[Antari]

I've seen the damage butter can do. I steer clear of it as much as possible. I'm also not a fan of margarine. I can't say I miss either. Caffeine was a bad one too. But once I cut it out completely. I ended up with more energy than it ever could give me.

 

[Cowabungaa]

I don't think I've eaten butter or a butter replacement in years. And that's just fine with me. Shit's awful for the veins.

When I still lived with my parents I used to like putting proper butter on Dutch spiced gingerbread when we had that. I can't recall putting butter on anything else on a regular basis.

 

[FalloutJack]

I've cut a number of things from my regular diet to eat healthy, but butter ain't one of 'em. I don't use it THAT often, but I don't cut it.

 

[Pyrian]

I could and indeed in the past have given up butter. It's not that big of a deal. But one thing I realized while counting calories is that we don't actually use very much butter for most applications. A reasonable slice of butter is like 20 calories. Putting that on 160 calories of vegetables, rice, bread, or whatever you like butter on, is a tremendous improvement in taste for a rather low investment in calories.

It's a different story when you're baking a recipe that calls for two sticks of butter. Indeed most baked desserts are calorie bombs. 360 calories for a single cookie? Get out.

 

[DefunctTheory]

Because of my current diet (60 pounds down. Take that, stupid fat body), I don't eat as much butter as I used to. But I still do.

In fact, I have to buy my own from time to time, because everyone else eats margarine. I think butter taste much better (And is often better then oil, depending on what your doing), and my understanding is that its better for you anyway.

So, yes, I could do without butter. But I certainly don't want to, and baring some serious health complications, I wont!

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

The only time I ever use butter is when I caramelize my onions for steaks.

So No. No its not worth living without caramelized onions on my steak!

 

[solemnwar]

I kind of hate butter because I grew up with margarine so... yes. The only use butter has in my house is for specific baking recipes.

Even then I don't use margarine for much. I usually use it to stop shit from sticking to the frying pan (because 'non-stick' frying pans are a joke). Only thing I really use it for is for popcorn, which I eat once in a blue moon, and on baked potatoes.

 

[balladbird]

blegh, I've hated butter since I was a child. Can't stand it as a spread, can tolerate it as a baking ingredient as long as the flavor doesn't come through too strong, but that's about it.

So yeah, I've lived my life almost entirely devoid of butter, and can't say it's particularly less enjoyable for the lack. XD

 

[lechat]

quit butter about 17 years ago to lose some weight and haven't touched it since.
for cooking I use olive oil and even most backing you can substitute the ingredients like apple sauce to retain most moisture in some recopies.

Still amazes me that people consider it acceptable to smear a slab of fat across a layer of carbs and wonder why they have weight management issues and or die of a heart attack.

Three foods I miss from my butter days:
vegemite and butter on toast
chip and tomato sauce sandwich
butter and honey on crumpets

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

I think so.... assuming that it's one of those; "It didn't exist therefore no knowledge"--kind of things. I'm Filo... well, half Filo. We power through animal fats like it's nothing. People will disappear if they try to steal our animal products.

 

[RandV80]

Eh sure, we could just use margarine instead.

 

[CrystalShadow]

Vastly preferable to margarine, but harder to use...

 

[flying_whimsy]

I never liked the smell or taste of most butters (raised on corn-oil margarine), but since my doctor told me to change my diet I found an extra lean olive oil based margarine spread that tastes fantastic and I can practically eat as much as I like (granted, I didn't use large amount of butter/margarine before).

I wouldn't like to live without butter or a comparable substitute (like the spread I'm using now): I love my mac and cheese and I since I don't use a lot of spices or even salt it helps liven things up a bit. Also, a lot of the foods I cook in pans require some form of oil or butter as it is just so they don't stick.

 

[Callate]

I could live life without butter. Olive oil is good for a lot of things, and it's even possible to make it into a roux (heated mixture of flour and fat to thicken things like sauces, gravies, and stews).

But butter is awfully nice for certain things. Cajun blackening certainly wouldn't be the same without it. The crust it makes on pan-fried things is delicious. And then there's all those pastries, biscuits, cookies...

I'm glad that nothing in my diet (aside from my own sedentary nature, which really means I should consume fewer calories) prohibits butter.

 

[Tsun Tzu]

I was practically raised on a combination of salt, pepper, garlic, and butter...so...

For the sake of my mental well-being, no. No I would not enjoy a life without it.

 

[Fat Hippo]

I wouldn't have a problem not being able to eat it in the case of spreading it on things or using it to cook, as I generally use olive oil to fry things. But being forced to give up nearly ALL baked goods would be quite difficult. I do love me some cookies and pastries.

 

[Zhukov]

I love butter, but I don't actually eat it that often.

I use it for frying when olive oil isn't suitable and I use it to make some sauces, but that's about it.