What, no bog butter?

The Food Programme on BBC Radio 4 recently did a programme on butter, and jolly interesting it was too. That the Danes and the French caught the Irish dozing ¹and overran Ireland's global butter domination was news to me. The rapid romp through the health debate was a bit light. I don't think I'm being unfair to characterise it as "if you thought margarine was bad with trans-fats, how do think it is with all these other chemicals they're using to replace the trans-fats?". Nothing about butter possibly actually being good for you, e.g. increasing ability to do arithmetic.

The programme talked to The Butter Viking, Patrik Johansson, supplier of authentic (and unwashed) butter to top restaurants such as Noma, and as noted was heavily invested in Irish butter. So I'm not sure whether to be happy or sad that it failed entirely to mention bog butter. Sad, because I think bog butter may well represent how highly the ancient Irish regarded butter. But happy because I can use the opportunity to point you to my own interview with Ben Reade, experimental chef at Noma, who used some of Patrik's butter to explore the taste of bog butter.