Day on the farm

Last Saturday I spent with my friends at a small charming (little messy, but hey, that can be charming too) farm close to the hungarian border. We went there for a not so charming reason. To be a part of the slaughter of the pig. Don´t get me wrong. I am an animal lover but also a meat eater. Am not naive that the meat I eat wasn´t alive once.

But these pigs are breed in a quite nice environment, definitely have a nicer life then those breed in a huge companies, probably closed in the halls without a natural light. Those are country pigs living a country life. But anyway, they are meant to become a human food.

It is still quite common part of a country life here to breed pigs and then, in the winter, organize a slaughter. If you are a city folk, you can pay some breeder to organize it for you. At that time, part of the property, a lawn, a yard, whatever is there, becomes an abattoir. You can hire a butcher who does the worst part, killing and cutting of the animal. And you can be part of the rest, prepare your own different kinds of sausages, headcheese, and other products I can not really find an english word for. This way you know what you are putting in and that there are no preservatives, no Es, nothing bad. You make your own food.

To be part of the abattoir is a social event. Friends gather and work together. Because it is done outside in the cold winter, it involves some drinkink too. Most of the time people are having a great time together and lot of fun. It can be the highlight of your winter.

I went because I wanted to document the process how an aminal becomes meat product. I hope my friends, who are animal protectionist forgive me this. In my next post, I will put some pictures from the slaughter, so if you do not want to see blood and how your meat looks like before it is cut into portions you consume, do not look. It is not meant to scare you, make you a vegetarian or show animal brutality. Actually, the animal is killed the fastest way possible by gun and everything after is just processsing of meat. It is meant to be a documentary. If you don´t want me to post it, let me know...