Why China and the West Use Butter So Differently

Butter is the most consumed fat on Earth. Every year, the world produces roughly eleven million tons of it. In France, the average person eats eight kilograms a year. It goes into croissants, finishes sauces, and melts over steaks. For half the planet, butter is practically a religion. But for more than a billion people in China, butter barely exists. It is not banned. It is not unknown. It simply never made it into the kitchen. Where a European reaches for a golden block of butter, a Chinese cook reaches for a plastic jug of peanut oil. Same hunger. Completely different fat. And the reason behind this split goes far deeper than taste — it reaches into agriculture, physics, biology, and thousands of years of divergent civilization. This is a story about how geography, agriculture, and biology quietly decided what the world cooks with — long before anyone had a choice. #ButterExplained #FoodScience #ChineseCuisine #WesternCooking #FoodHistory #CulinaryScience