Hello there, I just read a thread here on the use of olive oil in the mediterranean, both in pre-roman times and during the roman era.
I use this reddit both for entertainment and education (call it edutainment), but also as a resource base for a massive "con-world-building" hobby of mine. In this light, I wondered,
Given the importance of oils for human societies, what other oils were used in non-mediterranean bronze and/or iron based civilizations and to what extent were they significant in terms of regional trade.. China, Meso-America, Sub-Sahara, Andes?
Coconut oil was pretty significant for south India, because of the ubiquity of coconut trees and also because they are very productive. There is a whole culture centered around coconut oil in parts of south India, which was exported to indochina along with Buddhism during the first millennium.
North India was very dairy-centric, so the fat of choice was desi ghee, or clarified butter. However, there was also a huge demand for mustard oil, called "sarson" in Hindi.
Mustard oil is unique in that it has a sharp taste reminiscent of horseradish or wasabi. In fact, the same family of compounds that give horseradish its taste are also found in mustard oil. There are a range of Indian dishes where mustard oil is considered essential to complement the taste of the food. Specially fish.
Mustard oil is dangerous in high doses and is usually labeled "not for consumption" when sold in the west. But it's an integral part of north and east Indian cuisine.