Althouse: Back in the days when boys ate butter like it was candy.

March 8, 2011

Back in the days when boys ate butter like it was candy.

Here's my son Chris back around 1987 (with analysis, in the end, from my other son John):

28 comments:

Toad Trend said...: Well, I still eat butter like candy, but I prefer it slathered on bread, vegetables, whatever...

I am XX years young, not overweight, and my latest cholesterol number was 165.

Never did I eat margarine or any of those fake 'spreads'...those will kill you.

Don't hate me because I believe butter = candy ;); 3/8/11, 12:21 PM
MadisonMan said...: I had a friend who at age 4 would eat sticks of butter. He'd peel the wrapper and eat it like a banana.

I like how you call Chris 'John' at one point. I always call one kid by the other's name.; 3/8/11, 12:24 PM
traditionalguy said...: Raising boys is a job that certainly requires lots of patience. But it is worth all of the effort. Chris's eating delicious stick of butter indicates that he is a French food lover in the making.; 3/8/11, 12:25 PM
coketown said...: I used to LOVE eating butter when I was little. Whole sticks if nobody stopped me. But that was before the epidemic of obesity was discovered so I never put on weight from it.; 3/8/11, 12:31 PM
TWM said...: Was the butter back then really butter or that crap we all tend to eat now? I remember real butter fondly but I was eating it like that in the late 50s and early 60s.; 3/8/11, 12:32 PM
al said...: I love butter. Recently convinced my wife to get rid of the 'spreads' and keep butter ready to use in a Butter Bell crock. Tastes so much better than margarine or the various 'spreads'.; 3/8/11, 12:32 PM
Fred4Pres said...: My sister as a baby ate three sticks of butter that she managed to scarf with her little baby hands from the table when she was about a year old. We started calling her butter baby. She hated it when she got older.; 3/8/11, 12:33 PM
Triangle Man said...: I like how you call Chris 'John' at one point. I always call one kid by the other's name.

Do you call your kids by your pets' names (assuming you have at least one)?; 3/8/11, 12:34 PM
lohwoman said...: The restaurant our family frequented when I was a girl would put a pat of butter on a square of cardstock at each table setting. My sisters and I always ate that as an appetizer. What a treat!; 3/8/11, 12:40 PM
MadisonMan said...: @Triangle Man, yes. But not that often, and it's usually when I'm talking about the kids to the wife.

If I actually see them, I have the visual cue that they aren't really the cat or the dog.; 3/8/11, 12:40 PM
chickelit said...: My daughter's favorite food as a toddler was buttered bacon.; 3/8/11, 12:51 PM
Michael K said...: Kids aren't the only ones who love to eat butter. Many years ago, when I was in high school, I came home one night and flipped on the kitchen lights. There was one hilarious moment in the bright light that has been framed in my memory forever. There on the kitchen table, was a mouse caught in the act of nibbling the butter, left uncovered on the table. Have you seen Caddyshack ? There is a scene where Rodney Dangerfield's huge yacht is bearing down on a fisherman in a rowboat. The fisherman's eyes bulge. That is exactly the expression on that mouse's face.

I like mice for some reason. If only we could put tiny diapers on them.; 3/8/11, 12:52 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: Aw, bless.

Hostess, how's your health?; 3/8/11, 12:52 PM
BJM said...: Unsalted butter has always been my go to snack. Is anything better than a fresh slice of artisan bread slathered with unsalted butter, topped with a thick slice of triple cream Brie or Camembert and crispy sliced radishes on top?

However I decided moderation might be a good thing given my age, although like Like Dont Tread, I don't have any related health issues from consuming saturated fat, yet. We women do tend to store fat more easily as we age. So I decided to freeze butter in 1 oz pats to cut down on impulse snacking ...it's just as tasty frozen.

*Sigh*; 3/8/11, 12:56 PM
chickelit said...: I was butter-deprived as a child. My parents were too cheap to buy it and in Wisconsin "colored" oleomaragine was still illegal. My dad would buy a case of it when we visited relatives in Illinois.
_____________

wv = muter
"Repetio est muter studiorum"; 3/8/11, 12:57 PM
traditionalguy said...: Butter has a flavor I crave. The Ruth Criss Steak House's secret is to fry the steaks in butter for 30 seconds each side after they are done and right before the waiter brings them out.; 3/8/11, 1:11 PM
Trooper York said...: You know this is how Sarah Palin got in more trouble. Putting her kids on a reality show. I mean there were people who hated her before but that just added fuel to the fire. Just sayn'; 3/8/11, 1:26 PM
LordSomber said...: I can't believe it's butter.; 3/8/11, 1:50 PM
Fred4Pres said...: I like my butter (on bread) salted. But that is me. If you prefer sweet unsalted butter, fair enough.

Anthony Bourdain points out that good restaurants put butter in practically everything. It is the secret for making everything taste good.

The other night I went out and I had sauteed scallops, crab, and prawns (I am sure with butter and olive oil) with a side of butter to dip them in the other night. The wine was a sauvignon blanc that smelled like fresh green apples (I wish I remembered the label because it was awesome).

I am still thinking of that meal.; 3/8/11, 2:04 PM
Fred4Pres said...: Trooper, Sarah Palin could butter a slice of toast and I am sure Sullvian and the rest of the coven of bitchy girls would be criticizing her the next day.

There is nothing Sarah Palin can do to avoid their wrath. She could come out as a lesbian progressive multiculturalist feminist tomorrow and denounce every platform of the GOP and the Tea Party and that would still not be enough. They would still attack her.

It is not rational.; 3/8/11, 2:08 PM
Unknown said...: Peanut butter was my downfall.

Cute kid.; 3/8/11, 2:27 PM
Charles said...: When I was a wee lad back in Philadelphia, I was invited to lunch by my friend from next door. He was given a whole stick of butter as "dessert". As in Madison man's case, the boy peeled it like a banana and at the whole thing.

Scarred me for life...to this day, if I can see butter on anything I can't eat it. Melted is no problem but spread and clotted on bread (or what have you) and it's "no soap radio".

....ghahhhh.....; 3/8/11, 2:33 PM
Unknown said...: My brother put ketchup in the butter to eat it like candy; 3/8/11, 2:41 PM
ricpic said...: Eat bread and salt and speak the truth is a famous proverb, but they left out butter because when you eat bread (especially rye bread) and salted butter it puts you in such a trance that you can only speak the truth.; 3/8/11, 3:00 PM
Indigo Red said...: Dietary fat supplies essential fatty acids (EFA,)aids in the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K, and is a foundation for the production of hormones and mediators. Fat, especially in infancy and early childhood, is essential for neurological development and brain function.

When I was a young man, I watched my neighbor's toddler scarf down buttersticks. Apparently it was his body's way of self-regulating as the butter was the only dietary fat allowed in the home. The kid's brain was starving and was trying to survive dispite the well meaning diet restrictions of his health conscious New Age parents.; 3/8/11, 3:18 PM
Christy said...: Anyone else get lavishly buttered bread before nap time in 1st grade? Back in the late 50s, it was.; 3/8/11, 5:38 PM
AST said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/8/11, 8:10 PM
Henry said...: What is most incredible is that your son is named Chris!; 3/8/11, 11:12 PM