Geek Trivia: By Whose Request Was Margarine Invented?

Albert Einstein Florence Nightingale Napoleon III President Taft geek-trivia-by-whose-request-was-margarine-invented photo 1

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Answer: Napoleon III

If you’re a fan of margarine, you have none other to thank for the butter-substitute than Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, or Napoleon III, first president of France and the nephew and heir of Napoleon Bonaparte.

In 1869, rising butter costs led Napoleon III to set up a prize to be awarded to the first person who could create a nutritive and shelf-stable fat to replace butter in the larders of French homes and military bases.

A French pharmacist and chemist by the name of Hippolyte Mège-Mouriés won the prize with his mixture of beef tallow and skimmed milk. He called his mixture oleomargarine. Along the way it was shortened, and we know it today as plain old margarine.

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