Yes, in addition to other types of fats and oils. It’s traditional in Black people’s culinary practices to use whatever is at hand, largely due to slavery times when our only options were leftovers and scraps and garbage. When cooking meats, the fat that remained was of no use to the masters’ households and their families’ diets, so it ended up in the slave quarters where it flavored and oiled many different foods. In fact, it’s still known to this day as “drippings”, and some Soul Food recipes and dishes are based on drippings, rather than merely being flavored by them.
After slavery, abject poverty and near starvation were still vestiges of everyday life for Black people, so the same practices that had sustained them on plantations carried over. Far into the 20th century, as quality of life continually improved for the dominant society, Black people were still relegated to those practices. For instance, affluence, modernization, research, product development and mass marketing brought about healthier things for cooking such as “store-bought” Crisco. Items like that were considered luxuries to Black people, when perfectly good grease was available every time meat was cooked. Besides, the store versions were tasteless in comparison.
Lard, as an actual product sold in stores, slowly found its way into Black people’s pantries through the Middke part of the century, but of course it was less healthy and by extension, cost less. To use Crisco or Wesson or Pam was seen as pretentious, boastful, and high-minded. That began to change in the 1960s.
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SpunkySenior 