Starting from the time that humans have raised and slaughtered pigs for food, they have been cooking with and eating lard, the rendered fat of the animal. Once the home cook’s default fat for deep-frying, sautéing and baking, lard’s ubiquity in the United States came to an end just over 100 years ago, with the advent of vegetable shortening, developed to make use of the surplus vegetable oils that manufacturers like Procter & Gamble had once converted into candles and lamp oil.