The money spend making crisco look 'healthier' than lard has left timeless traces in the general public.
The original form of crisco is so unhealthy that the now called trans-fats are banned in most countries.
However the damage is done, and people still look for other hydrogenated vegetable oils instead of animal fats. Like my friends buying canola margarine instead of real butter.
That's only half the story though. The factually wrong part (fat in == fat deposited). The other part, that is still factually correct and hence a good reason to avoid lard, is that saturated fats absolutely and unequivocally lead to atherosclerosis and coronary artery disease.
I'm surprised how easily the 'bad' fats are getting a free pass in the name of decriminalizing 'fats', in the bleeding-edge of dietary pantheon.
This isn't true at all. Too much saturated fat, perhaps, does, but this idea that if a drop of saturated fat crosses one's lips, you'll die a horrible death in 5 year is just plain silly.
The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet [1]
there is a lot of evidence to the contrary. There is a whole school of thought that polyunsaturated fats are the bad ones, while saturated or monounsaturated are good.
I'm eating a Low Carb High Fat (LCHF) diet, also known as keto (ketosis) diet, where I eat many saturated fats.
http://befiteatfat.tumblr.com/post/24324936614/the-fats-in-t...
The linked article's claim that only Crete has this style of diet in Greece is strange, also. It's not even the part of Greece it's most associated with, let alone the only one that follows it (the region most known for its olive-oil cultivation/cuisine is Peloponnesus).
I do recommend it though; it completely changed the way I view immigration, labor laws, and capitalism.
Here in Poland there are still many dishes that require lard as a cooking oil - "chrust" or angel wings, a friend pastry known all over the Slavic world is one that comes to mind.
Heavily salted lard, often with bits of bacon, apples and onion is used as a spread on dark bread. It's amazingly delicious, especially in the winter with some sour pickles. These are traditional winter foods here - salted lard would hold forever and sour pickles are a seasonal delight.