Cheju Pigs

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Originally uploaded by skindleshanks.

I've never tried this dish, but if you go to Cheju Island, you'll find this delicacy: black haired pigs that are fed almost exclusively on human feces (so I've been told). It doesn't sound healthy for the pigs, but it is believed that this pork is especially good for human consumption. I guess it creates a closer symbiotic relationship between man and pig.

Black haired pigs command premium prices in North-East Asia, but not all consumers are getting what they think they're getting. When I worked in a pig slaughterhouse in Winnipeg, I found out that pigs with even the faintest black hair were stamped with a special mark, since black-haired pork can be sold for several times the price of normal pork. Once the hair is burnt off in the butchering process, though, they look no different than the other pigs going through the plant, and bear very little resemblance to these pigs, which are less than half the size of slaughter-ready hogs in North America. I smell a scam ... Maybe if Canadian farmers would change their nutritional inputs, they could make even more on Asian exports!