What Did They Use Before Seed Oils? A Deep Dive into Traditional Cooking Fats

December 23, 2025 •

5 min read

For over 3.4 million years, archaeological evidence shows early humans were harvesting bone marrow for fat, a dietary staple long before modern industrial fats existed. This historical context prompts the question: what did they use before seed oils became a kitchen fixture in the last century?

Quick Summary

Centuries before the industrial food revolution popularized mass-produced seed oils, cultures around the world utilized natural animal fats like lard, butter, and tallow, alongside traditional plant-based oils such as olive and coconut oil, for all culinary purposes.

Key Points

Animal Fats: Lard, tallow, and butter were primary cooking fats for centuries, particularly in European and North American cultures, prized for stability and flavor.
Regional Plant Oils: Olive oil dominated the Mediterranean, while coconut and palm oils were staples in tropical regions, extracted and used long before modern processing.
Industrial Shift: The widespread adoption of industrial seed oils began in the 20th century, fueled by new technologies like mechanical presses and hydrogenation, which made them cheap and abundant.
Processing Differences: Traditional fats are minimally processed through rendering or cold-pressing, whereas industrial seed oils undergo extensive chemical refining to become shelf-stable.
Flavor Profile: Traditional fats offer a rich, complex flavor that many modern cooks find superior for baking and frying, in contrast to the more neutral taste of refined seed oils.
Nutritional History: Ancestral diets relied on a balance of fats from whole food sources, unlike the high concentration of omega-6 fatty acids found in many modern, industrialized diets featuring seed oils.

A World Before Industrial Fats

For thousands of years, the human diet was built on whole, unprocessed foods. This included the fats used for cooking, which were sourced locally and minimally processed. Animal fats derived from hunting and husbandry, along with oils extracted from fruits and nuts, were the backbone of kitchens and recipes worldwide. The culinary landscape shifted dramatically around the 20th century with the advent of new technology and industrial agriculture, pushing these traditional fats aside in favor of chemically-refined and mass-produced options.

Animal Fats: The Original Culinary Staples

Across Europe and North America, animal fats were the cornerstone of traditional cooking. Rendering was a common practice in every household, ensuring that every part of an animal was utilized to prevent waste. These fats offered rich flavor and had high smoke points, making them ideal for high-heat cooking like frying and sautéing.

Lard (Pork Fat): Historically popular in Europe, Central America, and China, lard was prized for creating incredibly flaky pastries and yielding excellent crispy fried foods. Its use was widespread until falling out of favor in the 20th century. Today, many chefs are rediscovering its unique properties for baking and frying.
Tallow (Beef/Mutton Fat): Rendered fat from cows or sheep, tallow was a kitchen workhorse for centuries. Its high smoke point makes it incredibly stable for frying and searing. Tallow was also a key ingredient for pemmican, a survival food used by indigenous peoples of North America.
Butter and Ghee: For millennia, dairy fats have been crucial. Butter was common in cultures north of the Mediterranean, while ghee (clarified butter) was and remains a staple in Indian cuisine. These fats offered distinct flavors and were used for cooking, baking, and as spreads.
Schmaltz: This rendered chicken or goose fat was a popular cooking medium in Eastern European Jewish cuisine, valued for its flavor and stability.

Fruit and Nut Oils from Ancient Civilizations

While animal fats dominated in colder climates, warmer regions relied on the bounty of fruit-bearing trees and oil-rich seeds.

Olive Oil: A foundation of Mediterranean cuisine for thousands of years, olive oil has been used for cooking, medicine, and lighting since as early as 4000 B.C.. Minimally-processed extra virgin olive oil was highly valued and traded throughout the Roman Empire, showcasing a deep-rooted history of fruit oil consumption.
Coconut and Palm Oil: In tropical regions of Southeast Asia, West Africa, and the Pacific Islands, coconut and palm oil have been staples for millennia. These saturated-fat-rich oils are highly stable at room temperature, making them ideal for frying and baking in hot climates.
Sesame Oil: One of the earliest extracted seed oils, sesame oil has a history dating back to ancient Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley. It played a significant role in Middle Eastern, Indian, and East Asian diets for flavor and cooking.

The Industrial Revolution: A Turning Point

The transition away from traditional, natural fats accelerated dramatically in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Several key innovations and societal shifts contributed to the rise of industrialized seed oils:

Technology: The invention of mechanical oil presses and the use of chemical solvents like hexane made it possible to extract oil cheaply from seeds like cotton, soy, and corn. This process allowed for unprecedented mass production.
Marketing: Industrial food companies aggressively marketed new products like Crisco, made from hydrogenated cottonseed oil, as a modern, convenient, and hygienic alternative to traditional animal fats. This marketing successfully appealed to housewives seeking to embrace modern living and move away from older cooking methods.
Health Claims: Beginning in the mid-20th century, health organizations promoted the replacement of saturated animal fats with polyunsaturated vegetable oils, further bolstering the market for industrial seed oils.

A Comparison of Traditional Fats vs. Modern Seed Oils


Feature	Traditional Fats (Lard, Tallow, Ghee)	Modern Seed Oils (Soybean, Canola, Corn)
Source	Animal fats, coconut, olives, sesame seeds	Seeds of corn, soy, canola, sunflower, cotton
Processing	Rendered with low heat or cold-pressed	Chemically-extracted with solvents, bleached, and deodorized
Saturated Fat	High saturated fat content; highly stable	Lower in saturated fat; prone to oxidation
Smoke Point	High and stable; excellent for high-heat cooking	Varies, but industrial processing lowers stability at high heat
Nutritional Profile	Contains vitamins A, D, and K; balanced fatty acids	High in omega-6 fatty acids, potentially leading to imbalance
Flavor	Rich, complex, and savory flavor profile	Often neutral and flavorless
Stability	Naturally resistant to oxidation and spoilage	High susceptibility to oxidation, requiring additives

The Modern Rediscovery of Ancestral Cooking

Today, a growing movement is reclaiming traditional cooking methods and ingredients. Many are motivated by a desire for unprocessed, nutrient-dense foods and a return to richer, more natural flavors. The revival of fats like lard and tallow in high-end restaurants and home kitchens reflects this shift. While modern industrial seed oils offer convenience and low cost, the historical record shows that the human diet was once defined by more wholesome, regional fat sources that were a far cry from today's chemically-extracted products.

Embracing a Balanced Perspective

The history of cooking fats reveals a long tradition of using animal and stable plant-based fats that fueled and nourished populations for millennia. The modern dominance of industrial seed oils, while convenient, represents a radical departure from these historical dietary patterns. By understanding where our culinary fats came from and how they were produced, we can make more informed choices about the role of different fats in our diet today. For more on the history of cooking oils and the modern debate, you can read more here: The Truth About Seed Oils: How We Got Here and Why It Matters.

Conclusion

The transition from traditional animal and fruit fats to modern industrial seed oils marks one of the most significant dietary changes in recent human history. Before this shift, cultures cooked with locally-sourced, minimally-processed fats like lard, tallow, butter, olive oil, and coconut oil. These fats were valued for their flavor, stability, and nutritional content. The rise of industrial processing and targeted marketing made seed oils ubiquitous, but a modern resurgence of interest in traditional foods is bringing these ancestral cooking methods back into the limelight. By appreciating this history, consumers can move towards a more balanced and flavorful cooking experience.

Frequently Asked Questions

Lard is rendered pork fat, used for cooking, frying, and baking across many cultures for centuries. It is particularly valued for its ability to produce incredibly flaky pie crusts and pastries.

Tallow is rendered beef or mutton fat, used historically for cooking, candle-making, and soap production. It was a primary fat for high-heat cooking due to its stability and high smoke point.

No, olive oil has been used in Mediterranean regions for thousands of years, with archaeological evidence dating back to 6000 B.C.. However, its widespread availability and use beyond these regions is a more modern phenomenon tied to global trade.

The shift was driven by a combination of factors: new technology that enabled cheaper mass production of seed oils, effective marketing campaigns presenting them as modern and hygienic alternatives, and health recommendations from the mid-20th century that demonized saturated animal fats.

No, coconut oil has a history spanning over 4,000 years in tropical regions of Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands, where it was used for cooking, medicine, and body care.

The increasing scarcity and cost of whale oil, which was used for industrial lubrication, prompted the search for cheaper alternatives. This led to the refinement of oils like cottonseed oil, initially for industrial purposes, before they were aggressively marketed for human consumption.

While the modern, highly refined seed oils are a recent industrial innovation, some traditional, minimally-processed seed oils like sesame oil have been used in certain cultures for millennia. The modern production process, however, is a significant departure from these historical methods.