<story><title>Who Killed Lard? (2012)</title><url>https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2012/02/03/146356117/who-killed-lard</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>ghaff</author><text>&amp;gt;What happened in Norway is that butter was rationed because of WWII and they introduced margarine (another product of hydrogenation) as a substitute, and after the war, it was promoted as a healthier alternative to butter.&lt;p&gt;Margarine was extremely popular in the US for a time (and there&amp;#x27;s still plenty of it in grocery stores). Among health conscious people, butter was looked on with suspicion as recently as 20 years or so ago. (I ran&amp;#x2F;run weekend hiking trips sometimes and 20 years ago, I would definitely have gotten dirty looks if I only bought butter. Today no one cares.)&lt;p&gt;Crisco was pretty popular at one point in the US but AFAIK it&amp;#x27;s receded quite a bit. I don&amp;#x27;t do a lot of baking but I don&amp;#x27;t really see it in recipes these days. And lard is still not in mainstream use at all.</text></item><item><author>ThJ</author><text>This story doesn&amp;#x27;t really explain what killed lard in Europe. They don&amp;#x27;t sell Crisco or any other kind of shortening here in Norway, for example. Norwegian recipes often call for butter, but rarely for lard. Few things are ever deep fried and in pie crusts, we use butter, not lard. The closest thing you can find to shortening in a Norwegian supermarket is coco fat. The only thing I know of that was traditionally cooked in lard is donuts, which are literally named lardrings (smultringer) in Norwegian.&lt;p&gt;What happened in Norway is that butter was rationed because of WWII and they introduced margarine (another product of hydrogenation) as a substitute, and after the war, it was promoted as a healthier alternative to butter.&lt;p&gt;Lard must&amp;#x27;ve been around, especially in other parts of Europe than Norway, but I doubt these domestic American events killed it.&lt;p&gt;I often see Americans attempting to explain why things happen in their country by pointing to domestic events, with said events failing to account for an identical thing happening all over the world.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jimmaswell</author><text>I get the impression you&amp;#x27;re generally better off sticking to (whole fat&amp;#x2F;&amp;quot;normal&amp;quot;&amp;#x2F;etc) versions of products and simply being aware of portion sizes than substituting or diluting things just because there&amp;#x27;s some health fad going on against something in it like cholesterol or fat or sugar. Have a breakfast of eggs with real butter and a glass of whole milk, use full real mayonnaise instead of some sickly-tasting light version, have a burger, just watch out for daily calories. An exception of course if if you have a particular medical condition that requires a special diet.</text></comment>
<story><title>Who Killed Lard? (2012)</title><url>https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2012/02/03/146356117/who-killed-lard</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>ghaff</author><text>&amp;gt;What happened in Norway is that butter was rationed because of WWII and they introduced margarine (another product of hydrogenation) as a substitute, and after the war, it was promoted as a healthier alternative to butter.&lt;p&gt;Margarine was extremely popular in the US for a time (and there&amp;#x27;s still plenty of it in grocery stores). Among health conscious people, butter was looked on with suspicion as recently as 20 years or so ago. (I ran&amp;#x2F;run weekend hiking trips sometimes and 20 years ago, I would definitely have gotten dirty looks if I only bought butter. Today no one cares.)&lt;p&gt;Crisco was pretty popular at one point in the US but AFAIK it&amp;#x27;s receded quite a bit. I don&amp;#x27;t do a lot of baking but I don&amp;#x27;t really see it in recipes these days. And lard is still not in mainstream use at all.</text></item><item><author>ThJ</author><text>This story doesn&amp;#x27;t really explain what killed lard in Europe. They don&amp;#x27;t sell Crisco or any other kind of shortening here in Norway, for example. Norwegian recipes often call for butter, but rarely for lard. Few things are ever deep fried and in pie crusts, we use butter, not lard. The closest thing you can find to shortening in a Norwegian supermarket is coco fat. The only thing I know of that was traditionally cooked in lard is donuts, which are literally named lardrings (smultringer) in Norwegian.&lt;p&gt;What happened in Norway is that butter was rationed because of WWII and they introduced margarine (another product of hydrogenation) as a substitute, and after the war, it was promoted as a healthier alternative to butter.&lt;p&gt;Lard must&amp;#x27;ve been around, especially in other parts of Europe than Norway, but I doubt these domestic American events killed it.&lt;p&gt;I often see Americans attempting to explain why things happen in their country by pointing to domestic events, with said events failing to account for an identical thing happening all over the world.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>reaperducer</author><text>&lt;i&gt;Crisco was pretty popular at one point in the US but AFAIK it&amp;#x27;s receded quite a bit. I don&amp;#x27;t do a lot of baking but I don&amp;#x27;t really see it in recipes these days. And lard is still not in mainstream use at all.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;I bought some lard at Safeway just last week.  It can be had, but it&amp;#x27;s usually in the dustiest, lowest, most-hidden shelf in the baking aisle.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s excellent for deep frying, and economical because it can be used over and over and the flavor only improves.  (Unless you burn something.)</text></comment>