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| Pork related recipes and stories below |
The Spanish first introduced large numbers of domesticated hogs to the
Island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean in the 16th century. Because the islands
had no predators and many root crops to graze on, the pigs thrived. Europeans quickly learned from locals how to
smoke and barbecue the pig. In 1555, one traveler described the residents of
Santo Domingo as having great amounts of pork and poultry. The pork, he writes,
is “very sweet and savoury [sic]; and so wholesome that they give it to sick
folks to eat, instead of . . . poultry . . . I” Before the invention of refrigeration
necessity required meat lovers to eat locally and for many that meant pork from
hogs they raised or their neighbors raised. In tropical regions like the
Caribbean, rural folk slaughtered, butchered, and consumed the
meat of the hog generally on the same day or they smoked, salted, and or jerked
the hog. Jerking (salting and drying it in the sun) to conserve meat has a long
history and that extends around the globe. For example we know that in the
Andes the Inca made jerked alpaca and
llama meat. Finally, in part, the Spanish Inquisition also contributed to
increased consumption of pork in the Americas among colonist in Iberian America. Eating massive amounts of pork became
a strategy for avoiding public suspicion that one did not adhere to Catholicism
and instead practiced a native American religion, Judaism, or Islam. Below are some pork related recipes and stories.
My Pork related stories and
recipes from the Iberian World:
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