This little piggie went to market, this little piggie stayed home

[dream_weaver]

Linked is an excerpt from the book Lesser Beasts posted at Longreads, subtitled The story of how pigs became the world’s most divisive meal.

The pig has often been passed over because they could not survive the trip to market. Pigs were also known to consume feces and human remains, two taboos that contributed to their being shunned. In many areas, it was only the poor that consumed them, and shunned in the wealthier districts. In Rome, it was more expensive than other meats, and served at feasts as a sign of ones social status.

The excerpt covers a timeline spanning from 5500 BC to 65 BC. Geographically it visits Egypt, where modern day Israel is, Greece, and Rome.

I Would Rather Be Herod's Pig: The History of a Taboo

[dream_weaver]

What made this interesting was considering Berstein's statement in Capitalism Unbound:

The governments, the school systems, the universities, and the churches in concert may be thought of as "The Moral Establishment"—the entrenched social institutions formulating and propagating men's moral codes.

While not explicitly stated, dietary and logistical concerns helped to determine whether to live high on the hog or not.