The Whole Hog

Gastropod

Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley

Science, Food, History, Arts

4.7 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 11 August 2015

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Bacon, bratwurst, bangers, barbecue: these are just a few of the many ways people around the world enjoy feasting on pigs. Of all the domesticated animals humans consume, Sus scrofa domesticus is the most fascinating, the most divisive, and, arguably, the most delicious. In this in-depth conversation with author and historian Mark Essig, author of the book Lesser Beasts: A Snout-to-Tail History of the Humble Pig, Gastropod discovers the evolutionary source of the pigs’ intelligence (scientists have judged them the cognitive equal of a human three-year-old), and why the animals’ physiology so closely resembles our own. We also uncover the real reason Jews originally eschewed pork, and how pigs were the essential but forgotten weapon, alongside guns and germs, that allowed the Spanish and English to conquer and colonize the Americas. Plus, we read and review Barry Estabrook’s book, Pig Tales: An Omnivore’s Quest for Sustainable Meat, which picks up the porcine tale in the present, where Mark Essig leaves off. From helicopter hunting to manure spraying and more, join us and pig out! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's always been a tricky relationship.
0:04.3	Most other creatures that we eat tend to live out on ranges in fields outside of town
0:11.0	tended by specialist herders.
0:13.6	Whereas pigs, because their typical role throughout history has been
0:18.2	converters of household waste.
0:20.1	They live around the house and they eat the levings of our dinner.
0:23.9	Then they become dinner themselves.
0:26.2	But because they live so close, they tended to form intimate relationships with us.
0:31.0	They became a pet and then we would eat them.
0:34.6	That's right, edible pets.
0:37.7	Pigs are the star of Mark Essex,
0:39.4	absolutely fascinating new book called Lesser Beasts,
0:42.6	a snout-to-tail history of the humble pig.
0:45.0	And in this episode, we get to the long history and the science of that tricky relationship.
0:51.1	I mean, it's always a little awkward when you have your pet for dinner.
0:54.9	You are listening to Gastropod. I'm Cynthia Graber.
0:57.1	I'm Nicola Twilly.
0:58.6	And things between humans and pigs have been a little bit different from other animals since the very beginning.
1:04.7	The basic story with cow's sheep and goats,
1:09.1	the theory of archaeologists is that this was a process in which hunting these animals turned into hurting them.
1:16.1	These are creatures that live in open territory and hunters could follow them across the fields.
1:21.7	Gradually, over hundreds or thousands of years,
	...

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