Wild Boar to Baconfest: Pigs in History & Culture
A Theodore Talks Lecture given by Dr. Cynthia Clampitt
Sunday afternoon August 23rd via Zoom at 2:30 pm
Pigs were the first food-bearing animals to be domesticated, so they have a history with humans that goes back to more than 12,000 years ago. Antiquity is only one of the reasons, however, that pork remains the world’s most widely eaten meat. This odd, contradictory animal offers a great range of advantages when it comes to feeding large populations, especially urban populations, though historically, it has also offered several disadvantages. Pork was virtually the only meat available to most Europeans during the Middle Ages, and if you ask for meat in China, you will get pork. From the invention of blood sausage by the Assyrians to creation of such American icons as barbecue and hot dogs, pork has remained on the menu for all but a few notable demographic groups. Celebrated at fairs, on farms, and often used in medical labs (for research), pork offers culinary delight and potential promise but also creates some challenges. Few other animals have helped shape human history so frankly yet with relish.
Dr. Cynthia Clampitt, in addition to being a speaker, is a writer and food historian. She has been writing and talking about food and its history for more than twenty-five years, and is the author of Pigs, Pork, and Heartland Hogs: From Wild Boar to Baconfest and Midwest Maize: How Corn Shaped the U.S. Heartland. Her most recent book, Destination Heartland: A Guide to Discovering the Midwest’s Remarkable Past, is about places to visit in Midwestern history.
Register for this presentation at here.
Theodore Talks take place via Zoom on the fourth Sunday of each month at 2:30 p.m. CT.
A list of future Theodore Talks can be found on the American Mensa National Events Calendar.
Questions? Contact Brad Lucht at >> [email protected].
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