Living lard

A call to rediscover pork fat

By Culinate staff

March 3, 2011

We’ve been told that lard is the devil’s foodstuff so often that — despite the best efforts of food writers reminding us that lard is actually better for you than butter — we tend to shy away from the stuff. (Lard hasn’t been helped by the fact that the boxed, shelf-stable version labeled “lard” is actually nothing but unhealthy trans fats, instead of freshly rendered lard.)

The latest (and very funny) attempt to convince us to return to our “lard-ers” comes from the Guardian, with a blog post titled "Consider Lard." Author Oliver Thring touts lard for its versatility in the kitchen and its nutritional benefits, and shares a little history:

Before the Second World War, Britons ate lard without guilt or fear. Its disappearance from our kitchens parallels a surge in the national waistline and an upswing in the cosseted maladies of fat. It’s worth remembering that the very people who so trumpeted the benefits of factory margarine — which we now know caused considerably more harm than good — were the same who lambasted lard and denied its natural glories.