Lard, the rendered down fat of a pig, was once widely used for cooking and baking,
but during the 20th century it developed a bad reputation that continues even today.
Why? Here's the real reason people stopped buying lard.
If you're looking for a single person to blame for the fate of lard in American kitchens,
look no further than Upton Sinclair. The muckraking journalist of the early 20th
century made waves across the country when he published The Jungle in 1906.
The novel, a fictional portrayal of immigrant factory workers, was aimed at highlighting
poor working conditions among the poorest laborers in the U.S., but more than anything,
it served to garner outrage and concern among Americans about the meat industry,
and the unsanitary conditions in which their food was being produced for consumption.
The newfound scrutiny of the meat industry included lard, which was rendered in these
factories. It didn't help that there was a particularly grim and gory section in
the novel describing the dangerous work of rendering and cooking lard in pig factories,
including a vivid description of workers falling into vats of lard and being… rendered down.
With that terrifying image in mind, Americans were becoming primed and
ready for a new kind of fat to cook with. It wouldn't be long until they got one.
Around the same time that Americans were coming to understand the perils of the meatpacking industry,
the soap and candle company Procter & Gamble stumbled
upon a technological breakthrough that would completely change the fat game.
According to NPR, at the turn of the 20th century, Procter & Gamble was looking for
something to do with the company's huge supply of cottonseed oil, as the invention of the lightbulb
led to a decline in demand for candles. The answer? A new process called hydrogenation,
which turned cottonseed oil into the substance that we know today as hydrogenated vegetable oil.
They called it Crisco. Introduced in 1911, just five years after The Jungle,
Crisco seemed like a healthier alternative to dangerous lard. It was an instant hit.
Lard took another hit thanks to the Great Depression, which caused wild
fluctuations in lard prices as the price of livestock also fluctuated.
It is also worth noting that government
calls for excess lard and other fats to be used to make military weapons during WWII caused many
cooks and bakers to turn instead to shortening (and the likes of Crisco) as an alternative,
which may have also been a big factor in the cultural shift away from lard.
By the time the U.S. had recovered from the Great Depression and World War II,
a new threat against lard was emerging: science.
In the 1950s, scientists really started raising alarms about the perceived links between lard and
heart disease, which was on its way to becoming the leading cause of death among Americans.
This paved the way for increased marketing by margarine and vegetable oil companies to push
their products as a better fat. Then, as America's "War on Fat" waged on throughout the second half
of the 20th century, all sorts of lard substitutes were created. This mindset spilled across the
entire food industry, with the steady rise in low or reduced fat food products, all backed by
a major industry advertising push to convince people that less fat equaled better health.
"You guys down here hear about the ongoing cholesterol problem in the country?"
Of course, in the 21st century, scientists have actually found that the trans fats in vegetable
shortening, like Crisco, can cause a range of health issues, including major heart problems,
while the saturated fat from animal sources, including butter and lard,
is quite not as bad for our health as previously thought.
We now know that some fat is necessary, and healthy fats are now the in thing.
But let's slow down a bit, because while it is looking better for lard than it once did,
there are still some real health issues associated with pork in general.
For one, according to ZME Science, there is still a body of evidence that suggests links
between pork consumption and a range of chronic health conditions, including diabetes and cancer.
Other concerns causing many to turn away from pork include the ethical abuses
associated with industrial pig farming and the environmental costs of mass pork production.
Even though rendering animal fat in and of itself isn't necessarily harmful to the environment,
high market demand for pig products in general has led to the rise of
Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, which are major sources of toxic pollution and waste.
And while the "War on Fat" led to the widespread use of a lot of stuff that has turned out to be
bad for you, it also promoted some things that are actually healthier than lard, arguably none
more pervasive than olive oil, which has become an American household staple since the 1980s.
Today, the American Heart Association recommends using canola, corn, olive, peanut, safflower,
soybean, and sunflower oil, as they are considered better for your health than the alternatives.
When it comes to food trends, what goes around comes around. And lard is starting to have a
full circle moment thanks to cooks seeking more flavor, farmers and chefs exploring nose to tail,
whole animal practices, and scientists learning more about dietary health.
These days, lard is being appreciated once again for its versatility and sustainability.
It's apparently the secret ingredient your gumbo is missing, as well was your biscuits,
and it has a magical ability to create light and flaky pie crusts.
"It's versatile, it's a top performer in baked goods,
and it's lower in saturated fats than almost all other animal fats."
And if you are interested in giving this old-school ingredient a try,
there are lard recipes all over the internet to lend
some inspiration - so there's no reason not to go whole hog.
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