Are fats oils?

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Me and my girlfriend have been having a discussion for a whole day about whether or not fats are oils. We’ve googled it and the only facts we found is that fats are solids and oils are liquid, we also found that they are the same, we both agreed on that. But she also claims that oils are necessarily plant-based, which I don’t agree with.
She’s studying biology, and knows the chemistry and the proper names for things, while I have less scientific know-how, but know damn well you can use bacon fat as cooking oil. I don’t know if l’m right, moreover, I don’t know how to explain that she is wrong (if she is). Please help.

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16 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

So, fats and oils are both “triglycerides”, which is to say, they both have three big floppy chains of carbon atoms each connected to a glycerol molecule.

The big difference is that animal “fats” typically have a structure in the big floppy carbon chains that causes them to have a higher melting point than vegetable “oils”. So, “fat” triglycerides are usually sold at room temp, and “oil” triglycerides are usually liquid at room temp.

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