Nearly every community uses oil in cooking. In some cases oil is a primary ingredient for flavor and energy, delivering needed calories and fats in a concentrated form (while in North America many people are concerned about limiting oil in their diets). Because processing equipment, oil crops, or both are frequently not available in a particular community, oil must be imported from elsewhere in-country if not from abroad. Development workers often write us with questions about producing oil locally in their communities. In future issues of EDN we hope to address this subject in more detail; these articles are an introduction to the topic.