October 24, 1966, Neenah-Menasha Daily Northwestern
How many of us remember this? When Wisconsin was the last hold-out in the country against colored oleomargarine? When normal, law-abiding citizens would knowingly break the law and make "oleo runs" to the U.P. and bring back this illegal product to our fair city? Yes, Virginia, there WAS a time when the state felt this was a crime against nature, when it threatened the all-American way of life, and the social order of mankind. Of course, by 1967, that was all forgotten and we were free to add those trans fats to our daily diets. Once outpacing butter at the checkout aisle, the reverse is true now, that dietary evidence seems to indicate that the saturated fats in butter may not be so bad after all, compared to the alternative. Perhaps, the bellowing political roar against margarine wasn't so wrong after all.
There's a great article on this subject from the Wisconsin Magazine of History, Autumn 2001: http://spotidoc.com/doc/437317/the-%E2%80%9Coleo-wars%E2%80%9D . Check it out!
Oleo was cheaper than butter and you could purchase it locally. But it was uncolored. It looked like a white lump of lard and you had to squeeze in the yellow coloring and thoroughly squish it into the mess to make it look palatable, a rather disgusting process that my mother delegated to me. At the UW I had a room mate from Rockford who returned from visits home with a trunk full of the real colored Oleo and made a tidy profit with student customers with standing orders.
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