When the Government Decided the Spread on Your Toast Should Be Pink
The ‘Margarine Wars’ Explain the 19th-Century Struggle to Regulate Food
Tomatoes are red, margarine is yellow, and oranges, are, well, orange. We expect certain foods to be certain colors. What we don’t realize is that these colors are not necessarily a product of nature but rather of historical controversies and deliberate decisions by various actors—including the government.
The story of how America’s federal government helped select specific colors for certain foods dates to late 19th century, when new processed foods were introduced. The color of margarine is a particularly powerful example of how the intersection of political power, industry competition, and …
