> Was coconut oil manufactured and consumed in large quantities before industrial age? Was it a staple of local diet? Probably? Coconuts were certainly cultiva

> Was coconut oil manufactured and consumed in large quantities before industrial age? Was it a staple of local diet? Probably? Coconuts were certainly cultivated and used in prominent societies dating back to 1500 BCE or earlier, and the oil has been used for nearly as long, although it's unclear to what extent this was for culinary purposes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut#Origin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut#Origin > Were people there healthy and not unusually prone to various diseases and not overweight? In some island nations being overweight was beneficial for travel and times of scarcity. So tradeoffs of their diet might not fit us so well as it fitted them. This is also unclear, although I assume the same ambiguity applies to animal-sourced fats which were consumed in cultures very different to our own.