In this lecture, Cynthia Clampitt presents the history of pigs and pork to examine the impact these animals had worldwide. Clampitt will focus on the Midwest, including why poet Carl Sandburg would call Chicago “Hog Butcher for the World.”
Pigs were the first food animals to be domesticated, so their history with human beings date back more than 12,000 years. However, antiquity is just one of the reasons why pork is the most eaten meat in the world. This odd, paradoxical 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. Once pigs were introduced to the Americas, they became an almost instant success, raised by settlers but also valued by Native Americans. As the Midwest opened, pigs moved west and numbers grew rapidly.
This one-hour program is free and open to the public. It will start at 1 p.m. at the Steeple Building Museum. For more information, contact the Bishop Hill Heritage Association at 309 927-3899 or bhha@mymctc.net. Sponsored by the BHHA and the Illinois Humanities Council Road Scholar Program.
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