I had the privilege of going to a pig pickin’ this weekend. For those of you non-North Carolinians, that means a whole hog roast. Although, in this case it was a half hog (minus the head).
Now, if you’re going to eat meat–and I do–this kind of event makes for a darn efficient use of it. At these kinds of events, the host usually takes a bunch of meat off the hog to chop into what we here call “barbecue” (because Barbecue is a Noun).
But the coolest (and tastiest) part is that they’ll then leave the carcass on the smoker for people to pick at. And the germane part is that people really do pick–with knife and fingers. Not only is it socially acceptable, it’s encouraged.
So, pick we did. I know I contributed in the cleaning of some of the ribs pictured here. And by the time I left, there really wasn’t much left. Same goes for the rest of the pot-luck buffet.
Not sure how applicable this idea is for other food situations, but there’s something about relaxed manners that tends to reduce waste. Any other examples come to mind?
6 Comments