Are You Smarter Than A Tortus?

March 29, 2010

Whether you realize it or not, you have probably eaten your fair share of pork belly. With eggs, with pancakes, on toast with lettuce and tomato, Americans consume pork belly in the form of...bacon. That's right. While the English make bacon from the leaner back cut of the pig (to confuse you, this is called "Canadian bacon" in America), American bacon is made from the belly. Pigs came to America with Christopher Columbus, who was urged by Queen Isabella of Spain to bring them. A later explorer, Hernando de Soto, brought 13 pigs of his own, which he prodigiously turned into 700 pigs within three years. Go here to learn more about trading pork bellies, a hot commodity! 

Return to newsletter