Pigs for Pets or Meat!

After reading about the poor standards of pork in Europe (where England gets most of its pork from), pig-eating British journalist Alex Renton became concerned. He puts blame on British supermarkets. He writes in the Guardian: “The fact is that price discounting (you may have noticed we’re in the midst of another ‘value’ war at the moment) has forced the price of pork so low that few farmers can make a profit on a pig, even when produced in a cage on the cheapest feed possible.” The answer, of course, is to stop eating pork, which Renton refused to do. So he took matters into his own hands (or, should I say, taste buds). “My pig is 11 months old now,” he writes admiringly of the piglet he’s now raising for the slaughter.

So he eschewed the pre-packaged pork goods like bacon in favor for his very own pig. Renton will be giving us monthly updates on the growth of his future pork feast in the Observer Monthly.

Do you want to do the same? Readers of Bill Buford’s book Heat might remember the scene in which the author lugged home a whole pig from his local butcher’s shop in New York City. Why not just raise one right in your own backyard? This article explains how.

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