[mywittyname]

I disagree with your premise.

Butter is a key component of a quintessential American sandwich - the grilled cheese. Also, bread and butter is a midwestern dinner table staple, and buttered crackers are things I snack on, I put them out for dinner parties. Though, older people use margarine for "health reasons".

If I want tanginess on a sandwich, I reach for mustard.

[gffrd]

American butter mostly tastes like salt and hardened milkfat … which is pretty ho-hum.

I suspect most Americans use butter for the salinity rather than the flavor.

I further suspect that people butter their grilled cheese not for flavor, but for crisping the bread and building a barrier against the grease released by the melting cheese.

[brianpan]

> Butter is a key component of a quintessential American sandwich - the grilled cheese.

To YOU it is (and I agree with you). But people make it with oil or mayo as the fat. I doubt most people think of butter as a required ingredient.

[msrenee]

I didn't find out you could make a grilled cheese with mayo until a few years ago. My husband still won't even try it. In my region, I doubt that most people would be comfortable using mayo instead of butter.

[thaumasiotes]

I would have thought "the fat" in a grilled cheese sandwich would be mostly what's contained in the cheese.

[bregma]

The cheese is on the inside. You butter the outside of the sandwich when making grilled cheese.

[quercusa]

Coat the outside of your grilled cheese with half butter and half mayonnaise (mixed). It's spectacular.

[rootw0rm]

A thin spread of mayo crisps up in the pan nicely too