My understanding is that coconut oil was the oil of choice for movie-theater popcorn... and that’s why it tasted so good. Not sure if they still use it.
Canola & soybean oils are crap, and anything fried in them tastes pretty lousy, IMO.
Yep, the whole "coconut oil is bad" thing came from the seed oil companies. So the popcorn in movies wasn't as good. Another health scare to make money. Again.
I don't know if they went back to coconut oil or not. Haven't been to a theater for decades. But, I use it for my own popcorn.
My understanding, the main reason they used Coconut oil in movie theaters, was because of “shelf life”, they could pop up acres of corn and it would stay crisp and light for several days. I would say this seems to hold true.
Day old popcorn with the seed oils, especially Crisco, is inedible. Bacon grease is real good for popping corn as well, and I use it for biscuits, cornbread - and for Cookies too. Saves on Butter, which is getting expensive as everyone knows. Coconut oil is pretty high also.
Vegetable oils though generally oxidize and turn rancid fairly quickly. Animal fats don’t do this generally. I don’t how true it is, but I read Canola or Canada Oil (Rapeseed) was basically a derivative of the paint industry. It definitely gives off strong varnish odors when it turns bad.