Lard was the canary in the coal mine of culinary correctness.

Rendered pig fat was ubiquitous in human diets for centuries. It was used to fry everything from dough to chicken and was an essential ingredient in pie making.

Lard tragically fell from public favor during the Great War on Monounsaturated Fats in the 20th century.

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Progressive trans-fats activists launched a bombardment of bad publicity against animal fats starting in the 1950s, often culled from inaccurate sources.

Everybody loved lard in the 1960s — yet by the 1980s, nobody dared mention it. 

Humanity's staple foodstuffs were soon caught in the crossfire: Salt, sugar, eggs, butter and wheat were all savaged as unhealthy over the years.

But the times they are a changin'.

"The main reason we use lard is because of the flakiness that it gives to our pie crust," Arnold Wilkerson, the owner of Little Pie Co. in New York City, told Fox News Digital.

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Lard has enjoyed a rebirth in recent years thanks largely to a heroic band of pig-fat patriots who withstood the bad-news blitzkrieg.

Pie makers and pastry chefs never surrendered their right to keep and bear lard.

"We combine a ratio of lard with butter to get its flavor. So that's the ideal combination of flakiness and flavor."

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The Great War on Monounsaturated Fats claimed its most famous victim in 1990, when fast-food giant McDonald's was forced to stop using delicious beef tallow to cook its fries.

"In the last several decades, however, the tables have turned as health experts have come to new understandings about fat and heart health," food and cooking site Mashed.com reported.

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The site added that "saturated fat from animal sources, including butter and lard, is not quite as bad for our health as previously thought."

Lard, an all-natural product, was often replaced by trans fats — many of which are manmade.

"Trans fat clogs arteries, increasing the risk of heart attacks and deaths," according to the World Health Organization, adding that "trans fat can be found in margarine, vegetable shortening .... and baked goods such as crackers, biscuits and pies."

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(Crisco, by the way, notes on its website, "All Crisco shortening products now have 0g trans fat per serving for a more healthful option.")

Lard laughed in the face of culinary cancel culture and kale in 2020, when it landed at No. 8 (eight!) on the list of 100 of "the world's most nutritious foods" published by the BBC.

"A good source of B vitamins and minerals. Pork fat is more unsaturated and healthier than lamb or beef fat," the BBC reported, citing a survey conducted of 1,000 scientists.

The shocking spot in the Top 10 put lard ahead of the queens of greens: broccoli raab (No. 30), kale (No. 31) and fresh spinach (No. 45). 

Moderation remains the best advice, New York nutritionist and author Lauren Harris-Pincus told Fox News Digital.

"Saturated fats are contributions to heart disease, particularly animal fats," said the author of "The Everything Easy Pre-Diabetes Cookbook."

"I would not advise anyone to add more saturated fats to their diets."

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She also said, "A little bit of anything never killed anyone. So if you're trying to make the world's best pie crust and it takes a little lard — that's probably OK."

Vice President Kamala Harris has gone 20 days without holding a formal press conference since becoming the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee as of Saturday, although she did answer a few questions on an airport tarmac Thursday.

Harris became essentially the de facto nominee after President Biden endorsed her on July 21 when he dropped out of the race and she officially clinched the nomination last week. She has been busy on the campaign trail, spoken at various events, and given informal remarks to reporters at various points, but hasn’t done a formal press conference or wide-ranging interview in the 20 days that have followed. 

Harris, amid mounting criticism on that front, briefly talked to reporters traveling with her in Michigan on Thursday. Speaking for just over a minute, she said she looked forward to debating former President Trump on Sept. 10 on ABC and defended the military record of her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

She also said her team was trying to set up an interview by the end of the month, as she has yet to do a one-on-one sit-down interview.

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This week, she made headlines by picking Walz as her running mate, but the two have still not been questioned formally in interviews or press conferences. It's gotten the attention of GOP vice-presidential candidate JD Vance, who has implored the media to do better on the issue and get Harris to answer questions.

During a Wednesday press conference in Detroit, Vance urged reporters to "show a little bit of self-awareness" and pushed Harris to "do the job of a presidential candidate" by speaking to them.

"Until she does, you guys have got to stop giving her a honeymoon and pretending that she is something she isn't," he said. 

National Review senior writer Noah Rothman recently asked his social media followers, "When is Kamala Harris going to hold a press conference?" 

"The most revealing exposure to which a candidate can submit is a prolonged press conference — and that’s precisely what Harris needs to do. Indeed, we know that’s what she needs to do because it was only a few weeks ago that Democratic political professionals and their allies insisted that was what Biden had to do," he wrote for National Review.

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NewsBusters executive editor Tim Graham expects her to follow President Biden’s 2020 playbook, when he was famously accused of hiding in his basement during the COVID pandemic. 

"Kamala Harris should absolutely hold a press conference. One would expect it when she names her vice-presidential pick. But we cannot expect her to break from Biden's serial avoidance of press conferences," Graham told Fox News Digital. 

"Since the 2020 campaign, we have witnessed the bizarre spectacle of Donald Trump granting wide access to networks that suggest he's a fascist and hammer him daily, while Biden and Harris won't grant interviews to media outlets that gurgle all over them and their ‘historic accomplishments,’" he continued. "Either they think the press can never be servile enough or they are projecting a complete lack of confidence in their efforts to put complete sentences together." 

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U.S. News & World Report senior national correspondent Oliver Knox wrote that "of course" Harris should take questions from the press. He said it’s already a "thing" for people in the media industry but pressure isn’t going to "dissipate" as non-journalist begin to ponder where she stands on certain issues. 

"A press conference may be high-risk, low-reward for Harris/Walz. But the longer they don't do a proper q-and-a, the tougher that q-and-a will be on both sides," Knox wrote. 

The Democratic National Convention is set to kick off Aug. 19 in Chicago. 

Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.