by Colin Hyde
Hands down, the Amandala editor has more science than I have, innately and through scholarship. The man is a natural: he did his Biology A-levels — he’s got the Math A-Levels too —and he was set to go abroad to become a full-blown paper scientist, if he had gotten the scholarship he applied for. According to him, he was better qualified than the person the government chose. That’s according to him. Apparently, he decided that the deck was stacked against him. Whatever the reason, I am not aware that he ever applied again for sponsorship to study abroad.
I have wondered about people in the wealthy world who liked school but don’t have at least one degree. From the age of 18 until you are 95, the doors of those institutions are wide open for you. I don’t buy the cost limitation. If you can’t go at 18, then go at 28, or 38, or 48, or 95. In the Belize of 50 years ago, the limit for thousands of Belizeans was Standard 6, the primary school certificate. When it comes to educational opportunities for those who like school, we’ve come a long way; indeed, we are getting close to par with the rich and mighty. There are many opportunities for Belizeans to pursue studies if they are interested.
Getting to the bread and butter, what this story is about: I grew up in a home that “buttered” its bread with Blue Band margarine. Most Belizean families were with margarine, because butter has always cost more. My dad had a good job with government, but Don Hector will tell you that nobody in a George Price government got a fat pay. My dad and my mom had 9 children, and we grew up in the city. We ate a lot of fish; we went fishing a lot, but we didn’t/couldn’t have a milpa, so all the cassava, okra, chaya, coco yam, plantain, banana, sweet potato, orange, papaya, and green corn on our table were bought at the market. Blue Band margarine was the main “butter” on our bread, because the price was right.
I went to Google to find out the price difference between butter and margarine—ha ha, I’m no, ehm, go-to-the-shop comparison shopper. I didn’t expect I was going for a ride for that basic answer. But the trip wasn’t boring. I picked up some interesting and worthwhile things on that journey, which I am happy to share.
Diffen, in its story, “Butter Versus Margarine”, says margarine was invented as an inexpensive substitute for butter in 1869. In2013dollars.com says the “U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, prices for butter and margarine are 180.23% higher in 2024 versus 1997 (a $36.05 difference in value).” Selina Wamucii at the page selinawamucii.com says “the retail price range in Belize Dollar for margarine is between BZD 1.59 and BZD 5.15 per pound (lb) in Belmopan and San Ignacio” and the “retail price range…for butter is between BZD 7.57 and BZD 13.07 per pound (lb) in Belmopan and San Ignacio.”
Okay, working with the cheapest brands, $1.59-per-pound margarine and $7.57-per-pound butter, that means for the price of a pound of butter you can buy more than four and a half pounds of margarine. With that price difference, yu know butter really haffu di come good fu move from the refrigerator at the shop to the morning and evening tea table in homes in Belize!
Aha, Zeiserl on Reddit says butter gets the prize—“Generally speaking, yes. Especially if the butter can be tasted…” You got the tail on the donkey there, Zeiserl! Bah, I told you last week that those foreign butter prizes, WD and A, they have lost their taste edge. So, then, only the health factor is left. The professor I told you about last week, she about said that Miss Betty Butter is making it on false advertising there. But the Amandala editor, he said butter better, butter’s got the health gold star, like the coconut oil.
Returning to Deffin, that page says butter has high cholesterol, and “margarine contains unsaturated fatty acids and little to no cholesterol; however, it may contain trans fat, which causes heart problems.” Deffin notes, however, that “after the dangers and harmful effects of trans fat became known, margarine manufacturers began producing variants that contained little to no trans fat.” Deffin says a product with less than 500 mg of trans fat in one serving qualifies for labeling as 0gtransfat even though it technically does contain some trans fat.”
More Deffin: they also offer up this discussion, “Saturated Fat vs Vegetable Oil”, from a Wall Street Journal article by author and science journalist Nina Teicholz, who “argues that vegetable oil is far more damaging to heart health than saturated fat, and that there has not been reliable scientific evidence against saturated fat in the last 30 years” which she says “would suggest that butter is better than margarine for health.” I say, at four and a half times the price, that butter had better be! It is clear as day that on a matter of price, butter doesn’t make the grade. And its fate as a no-go is sealed by the fact that ih noh taste nice like it yooz tu. Thus, the Blue Band ship and all the new copies take the flag.
Hey, I’ve inserted myself only to help you with the choice. The science edge definitely goes to the editor, and ahm, ehm, I have to watch my intake. For reasons I don’t want to go into, I was instructed to lay off grease over three decades ago. But not because weed isn’t my fix of choice or I can’t handle it, will I tell weed smokers to go to hell. Everyone has a right to their poison. If you’re still having doubts about your grease, let me make it easier for you. We can’t afford butter. No one is going to eat dry bread, because it wasn’t decreed that man should live by bread alone. There has to be some spread on it.
Whoa there, of course, no, don’t be using a spoon to dig out gobs of “Blue Band” to plaster on your bread. And know that if you love grease you have two bills to pay, one in cash, one in sweat. To further insulate myself from any accusation of leading people astray, I’m with the food counselors who say we should eat fried food sparingly. And I will take the lick and tell you that if you like your couch or bed you shouldn’t be in this conversation. You should be eating only vegetables. Your cassava must be dry, no butter, no margarine, no coconut oil needa.
In closing off here, I found this little chart here from Diffen, “Fatty acids in butter, margarine, mayo and various types of oils used for cooking”, which I think is good for the trivia.
Another sensible sex story
Congratulations to Pope Francis! Both thumbs up for him and his bishops for agreeing to men with gay inclinations becoming priests, provided they adhere to celibacy. No one can fault another for his wiring. It’s how one handles one’s candle. Have no misgivings: priests teach religion, not sex education.
Sometimes these wild Americans deserve props
This story by Fox News staff about a man who got arrested “for firing gun over lake on New Year’s Eve that killed woman”, in it we learn that the reckless philistine is in jail facing a charge of manslaughter by culpable negligence. You can bet it was no birdshot that he fired into the air while celebrating New Year’s! The story didn’t say how wide the lake is, but the woman was on the other side enjoying the fireworks from her verandah, when the bullet came down and killed her.
The police chief in Kissimmee, Florida, the locus of the tragedy, said he didn’t think the killer intended to harm anyone, but that celebratory gunfire is against the law. The suspect is a gun fiend. Police found 11 guns at his house. I give the Americans props for having such a law, and of course for pursuing the villain. I keep saying, individuals, we will du nonsense. The state must think for all of us.