Perhaps you have heard of the term, "eating high on the hog", in other words, living the good, life, eating well, having lots of money and status. It literally means eating the cuts of pork, the highest off the ground, along the backbone of the pig. This is the part that moves the least and therefore produces the most tender cuts of meat, and the most expensive: the loin roasts and pork chops! The opposite implication is that only peasants eat the rest of the beast, including the offal. Historically, this was a necessity, to eat all parts. Our ancestors, in every culture, figured out food pairings and methods to make ALL parts of the animal delicious. Peasant foods of the world are being elevated to fine dining experiences in all kinds of fancy restaurants, because cooked well, these forgotten flavours trigger deep memories in our bodies and fulfill us in surprising ways.

I started farming because I wanted to eat well, not because I wanted to become a food producer and create some kind of lucrative income stream. The quality of food available from the industrial food system, aka your typical grocery store or mass retailer, is actually vastly inferior to what our farming ancestors ate or what I can get out of my home garden and homestead, despite the apparent abundance and diversity displayed. I was fortunate, as a kid, to have had milk straight from a cow, wild meat and fish procured by my dad, food from the garden, and a mom who was home to cook and take care of us. Those types of fresh flavours never left my body, and today, when I taste food like that, I instantly know. At this point in my life, I simply refuse to eat any other way. We at Seasons, offer this kind of living to you.

As a kid, my mom always took the head, every time my uncle butchered a pig. Pig Head?!?!?! "Disgusting!" I thought, and told her so. Every time, I would cringe, and run away from the kitchen, and I certainly would never eat more than the one bite I was forced to try. Sometimes, when you are a kid, you really don't understand a lot of things. I am very grateful for my upbringing, and I consider myself very, very, fortunate.

At Seasons Pharmacy and Culinaria, we are focused on FOOD as Medicine, a principle to which we are very strongly committed…..So much so, that we are posting this photograph of a pig head. We sell pig heads and we are offering a class on what exactly to do, with a pig head.

Why?

There is a lot of talk these days about the conditions of domestic livestock. The vegan movement has brought a lot of the ugly side of industrial animal operations to light, and we too, at Seasons, refuse to eat or sell meat raised in this manner. We work with small farmers. Small farmers, these days, are not farming because they are into making fortunes. Small farmers toil because they value good eating. They value the relationships with the land, plants and animals. When we sacrifice an animal for our consumption, we respect that animal by using all of the available parts, the head, the feet, the bones, the skin, the fat, the internal organs. At Seasons, we understand that our dominant culture has lost our collective awareness of these items as food, and as well, we have lost the skill and time for processing these odd bits into deliciousness. In response to this, we offer live cooking demonstrations and tastings of these kinds of items in our open kitchen, and cooking classes. Dealing with pig heads have been taught by my mom, dad and me (Aline and Ed Leblanc) every year for the last 4-5 years, and coming up on March 30, 2025, Mama G, red seal chef, will put a new spin on what can be done with this amazing product.

A pig head can certainly be turned into head cheese, which is made by simmering the head in a very large pot with onions, aromatic herbs and spices. The cartilage, connective tissue, skin and bones produce the most luxurious broth, very high in gelatin, and suspends the meat, either in chunks or ground (typical French Canadian method my mom used). From the jowl you can pull from Italian inspiration and make guanciale, a cured product similar to bacon. One of my first forays into fancy fine dining was at Canoe in Toronto 20+ years ago and included a braised pork cheek from a Tamworth hog, incredible. This year, we roasted an entire pig head, after teaching the pork butchery class. This produced the most delicious crackling I have ever tasted.

As a pharmacist, I am very interested in the medicinal value of these off-cuts, the things that used to be part of our diet, and built the strong, muscular and fit bodies of our great-grandparents. It is well known that organ meats contain micronutrients that are not typically found in the flesh parts. If you are interested in exploring these types of foods for yourself, become part of our community here at Seasons Pharmacy and Culinaria. We will support you in your learning, and we will introduce you to the most amazing people in our region building a remarkable food culture. Some excellent resources to explore on your own include, "Nourishing Traditions", by Sally Fallon, the Third Plate by Dan Barber, and the video series "On the Anatomy of Thrift" by the Farmstead Meatsmith, Brandon Sheard.

If you are raising your own hogs, butchering a purchased side or whole hog, or you know somebody who does, please share this story and the link to the class to them. For sure, a class with Mama G, especially about a pig head, will have you laughing, making new friends all while learning some very valuable skills and connect you to food that your body will remember and love.