An emulsified fatty food product used as a spread and a baking and cooking fat, consisting of an aqueous phase dispersed in the fat as a continuous phase. Hyppolyte Mège-Mouriés invented margarine in 1869 and won the prize offered by Louis Napoleon for the development of an inexpensive butter substitute. Margarine is now considered a food in its own right and is manufactured in forms unknown to butter, such as plastic, soft, or fluid. However, the interrelationship is still acknowledged since margarine is colored, flavored, fortified with vitamins, and otherwise formulated to have the same or similar taste, appearance, and nutritional value as butter.