Valley Bounty: Pork

Pork is the most widely eaten meat on the planet; according to the UN, it accounts for over a third of the meat consumed on the planet. In the US the stats work out a bit differently, with pork sitting in third place behind chicken and beef—though Americans still eat an average of about 50 pounds of pork a year (interesting side note: per-capita consumption of chicken in the US has nearly tripled since 1965, while beef and pork consumption have each declined slightly). All this is to say that we eat quite a lot of pork in our country, and as is too often the case, we as consumers often know very little about where that meat comes from.

One of the nice things about buying local meat is that you often have a chance to talk directly with the farmer that raised your meat, at their farmers’ market booth or at your CSA pickup. When it comes to pork, I’m usually a fan of pork shoulder (also called “pork butt”), which is usually slightly less expensive per pound than other cuts and rarely needs more attention than being left to simmer in a slow cooker until it’s falling apart.

Valley Bounty is written by Brian Snell of CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture)