Pig out with the world's favorite flesh

You might know it as “the other white meat” thanks to the National Pork Board, but chicken has nothing on pork. Now, I know kosher and halal diners won’t agree, but bear with me. I need to give carnivorous readers something to salivate over, and pork is my favorite meat.

Why? Pork is perfect – it is a friend to time-pressed cooks because it’s fatty and will be juicy without excessive marinating or slow cooking.

It’s also cheap and adaptable – for anything you could think of cooking, there’s an appropriate pig product, from the slightly fancier and leaner loin cuts to the humble breakfast basics bacon and sausage.

Of all pork products, I eat sausage the most. It’s the most versatile version of this already versatile meat, coming smoked, ground, dried (such as with summer sausage), fresh and pre-cooked.

One of my favorite types is andouille, a smoked sausage that comes cased with onions, hot peppers, garlic and other spices. I like to fry it up with a little rice, minced cayenne peppers, roasted garlic and onions if I’m in the mood for a quick Cajun-style dinner.

Pork chops are another favorite. They take more time to cook but are healthier than sausage. Usually I brown them in a skillet then let them simmer in wine for about 30 minutes.

And yes, I cook with the same wine I drink – it’s much more fun that way.

But I’m not the only one who eats a lot of pork. It’s the most popular meat in the world and accounts for almost 40 percent of meat consumption across the globe, with the Chinese being the most voracious consumers of pig and after them the Europeans. Japan, China and Mexico combined consume one-third of the pork exported from U.S. farmers.  

Although pigs are now eaten in almost all parts of the world, they had a very humble start.

Most research shows pigs were first domesticated in southwest Asia almost 9,000 years ago. Trends spread east and west, and pork became the meat of choice for the ancient Chinese and Egyptians. 

Pigs had a two-toed foothold in Europe by 1500 B.C. and crossed the Atlantic in 1539 when explorer Hernando de Soto landed on the coast of Florida with his own flock. 
This even-toed ungulate was as popular in the New World as it was in the Old, and now U.S. pork production is a $97 billion industry.