I have been using coconut oil along with olive oil for years for cooking. Olive oil can be a bit harsh for some foods and can tend to brown them to much, if you can find good coconut oil non processed which is extremely hard to find but it is the best. heres an overall rundown about coconut oil at wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_oil but as mentioned before trying to find natural alternatives or unprocessed products for cooking and everything else for that matter has become harder and harder.