Episode 153: Pig Tales: An Omnivore’s Quest for Sustainable Meat

Barry Estabrook joins Katy Keiffer for this week’s episode of What Doesn’t Kill You to discuss his latest book, Pig Tales: An Omnivore’s Quest for Sustainable Meat —
an eye-opening investigation of the commercial pork industry and an inspiring alternative to the way pigs are raised and consumed in America. Barry Estabrook, author of the New York Times bestseller Tomatoland and a writer of “great skill and compassion” (Eric Schlosser), now explores the dark side of the American pork industry. Drawing on his personal experiences raising pigs as well as his keen investigative reporting, Estabrook shows how these immensely intelligent creatures are too often subjected to lives of suffering, sustained on a drug-laced diet just long enough to reach slaughter weight, then killed on mechanized disassembly lines. It doesn’t have to be this way, and Pig Tales presents a lively portrait of those farmers who are taking an alternative approach, proving that it is possible to raise pigs responsibly and respectfully in a way that is good for producers, consumers, and some of the top chefs in America. Provocative and richly informed, Pig Tales is bound to generate conversation at dinner tables across America. This program was brought to you by EscapeMaker.com.

“97 percent of pigs raised in this country live in these horrific crammed confinement buildings where their feet never touch the ground and they never breathe fresh air or see sunshine.” [15:00]

“Gestation crates will be relics of past — they will be goners.” [44:00]

–Barry Estabrook on What Doesn’t Kill You

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