Canoleo, Canoleo...where art thou, Canoleo?

When most people make a switch in their breakfast routine it’s usually to decaf or tea. I switch to peanut butter.

Trader Joe’s no longer stocks my spread of choice — Canoleo 100% Canola Margarine Premium (good shit) — so I’m now topping my two pieces of morning toast with TJ’s brand peanut butter. I love peanut butter so it’s not a difficult switch.

From what I can tell, TJ’s just dropped it. Canoleo is a product of Specialty Brands of America, Inc., and according to the SBP website:

Every year for the past five years, Canoleo® Premium has grown by over 20% as more natural food consumers discover that when taste and health matter, it has to be Canoleo® 100% Canola Margarine Premium.

Great marketing, huh? But if it’s growing in popularity why did one of the country’s biggest natural and organic grocery store chains stop offering it?

Here’s another logical question: why am I writing about margarine? Well, Canoleo has been a part of my life and diet since I moved to California, and its sudden absence creates a void that needs to be filled. Bread is the staple food in my diet, and butter naturally gains a prominent role because of that. (When I say butter I mean margarine; I grew up in a margarine family.) Plus, it’s interesting when something you buy and like is suddenly discontinued. It’s a common occurrence in the free market: popular items stick around, but those that don’t sell — which are often enjoyed by a select and dedicated few — go the way of the dodo. (That’s a lesson people at GM, Chrysler, and Ford need to learn. If you can’t swim, you bound to drizzown.) Canoleo Canola Margarine is just the newest addition to a long list that includes Crystal Pepsi, Dr. Slice (my all time favorite pop), that brand of polish sausage my dad was obsessed with, and Acapulco Hots, a cheese and salsa dip my parents and I enjoyed when I was little.

Peanut butter — and also jam — is a great substitute and will fill in nicely for Canoleo. But it’s a little sad knowing the familiar yellow tub will no longer be there in the back of my fridge. Unless, that is, I order a box of 12 from an organic food supplier.

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