1) MISSING GOOD OLD PORK

Like many people, I like to have a bit of pork on my menu from time to time.

Alas, for about 2 years now, I`ve had no pork on the menu!

The reason being that I have not been able to find a pork butcher`s shop and even though some of the big supermarkets sell pork, they mostly do pork chops and sausages but I like a bit more of pork than just these.

For example, I like (slow-boiled) pig trotters, a (roasted) pig`s head, (slow-cooked or braised Chinese style) pig`s tongue (it`s good eating and considered a delicacy by some top chefs), pig`s ear gelatine, rillettes (spread) and, in recent years, DIY pork ribs, DIY pulled pork,etc.

Not finding a pork butcher`s shop for miles around from where I live in London, I decided to travel back in time to the pork butcher`s shops I used to visit in the past:

– in Lewisham, the big and flamboyant pork butcher`s shop I used to buy pork from in the Noughties was no longer there,

– and the other pork butcher`s shop I used to know in Camberwell was also gone,

– my last option was the Irish pork butcher`s in Goldhawk Road near Shepherd`s Bush Market.

However, fearing that it has also disappeared, I`ve been hesitant about going all the way there for nothing.

LOSS OF THE TROTTERS :Then along comes that Moneysupermarket.com advert (Builders vs Strutters) and, initially (and for many weeks thereafter), every time the advert was shown, I thought I heard “Trotters” especially since the male actors were displaying their legs/trotters.

I thought: OK, at least I`m not the only person to lament the loss of (pig`s) trotters”. LOL! However, it turns out that I had heard wrong and that the word used in the advert was “Strutters” and not “Trotters” as I`d thought.

In short, with no fellow pro-trotters campaigners, I suddenly felt alone on the pig`s trotters eaters` planet with any thoughts of asking Jeremy Corbyn to help me champion the trotters eaters` cause banished from my mind. Not after what those pigs did to him in Jamaica! - Plus Jamais Ça! LOL!

All in all, to help me rally, I tried to establish the facts underpinning the disappearance from the London high street of the traditional pork butcher`s shop and found online some information regarding this disappearance such as the ones published at:

- http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/the-last-great-british-high-street-7906557.html (article entitled “The Last Great British High Street”),

- http://www.sevenstreets.com/the-butchers-tale/ (article entitled “The Butcher`s Tale”).

Also, in the course of my research, some obvious questions came up viz.

- Are the big supermarkets the only ones to blame for the disappearance of the pork butcher`s shop from the UK high street as is being claimed in some quarters?,

- Or halal butcher`s shops also have a hand in the disappearance?,

Why is it that halal butcher`s shops are flourishing on the high street whereas the pork butcher shops have practically disappeared?,

Why is it that in today`s UK, it`s halal here, halal there, but pork is nowhere to be found on the high street?

- Is this a coincidence? Or are pork butcher`s shops e.g. being bought out as may have happened to the pork butcher`s shops in Lewisham and in Camberwell, shops?,

- Has the UK pork butcher`s shop fallen victim to an insidious meat colonialism?

- Or has Tolerance all of a sudden become a Dirty Word in the UK?

T.O.L.E.R.A.N.C.E. such a dirty word (…)! (to borrow from Billy Joel`s song “Honesty”).

In a nutshell, I found at the end of my research that re-opening the pork butcher`s shop on the high street (at least in areas where there is demand for it), also, unofficially adopting pig trotters as the new symbol of UK tolerance is in EVERY UK PERSON`S INTEREST!

UNITED KINGDOM OF MEATS* (ALSO MEETS WHY NOT?)

Let`s bring back pork to the UK high street!

Yes to Halal, Yes to Kosher, Yes to Pork, etc. on the UK high street! (But should we allow Road Kill meat? LOL)

Let`s practise meat tolerance on the UK high street!

Each to his/her own meat and to other choices (now, choice is an essential part of British democracy)!

Tolerance is a good thing when it works both ways! Otherwise, some people might be tempted to think of it as a dirty word!

T.O.L.E.R.A.N.C.E. such a (…) word - Let`s make TOLERANCE SUCH A LOVELY WORD for our sakes!

Let`s Support Tolerance in the UK!

Say Yes to UK Tolerance! Donate Now to help it along!

*****************************************************************************MISSING OUT ON THE BARBECUE? IS THE UK ESPECIALLY LONDON GETTING ITS FAIR SHARE OF THE PULLED PORK, PORK RIBS BARBECUE CRAZE NOW SWEEPING THE US AND OTHER COUNTRIES SUCH AS GERMANY?)

The ff is a brief overview of the barbecue craze as mentioned above:

 “Five years ago, few people in the UK had heard of pulled pork. Barbecue meant cremating supermarket bangers and `pulled` generally referred to a late-night liaison in a ropey nightclub. Fast-forward to 2014, and the hog is everywhere. There are pulled pork Walkers crisps; ready-made pulled pork meals are sold in all the supermarkets; it featured as a pie filling on the BBC’s Bake Off; and it is literally in the air, making the new British Airways first-class menu. There has been a £10m sales growth in pulled pork products in the past year, according to research by 2 Sisters food group, and the US barbecue market is now worth more than £68m in the UK.

The ubiquity of pulled pork is inseparable from the trend for US barbecue restaurants. `It started with modernisation of barbecue foods in the US around 2008-10`says Charles Banks, the co-founder of food trend spotting agency the food people. `This craze for contemporary barbecue spread to the UK with two of the first authentic joints: Pitt Cue Co in London and Grillstock in Bristol.`

As punters went wild for barbecue in general, and pulled pork in particular, restaurant chains and supermarkets jumped on the porcine bandwagon. There has been a 35% increase in the amount of US barbecue dishes served in UK restaurants since 2010, according to the food people, and a rash of smokehouses and diner pastiches have opened in London, Manchester, Leeds, Brighton and beyond. `We are in the midst of a meat-centric tsunami` says Richard Turner, the director at Pitt Cue Co and the co-founder of rare-breed butchers Turner and George.” – THE GUARDIAN (2014)

 “How Britain's gone potty for pulled pork! Marinated, rubbed and soused with spices and alcohol, the slow-cooked near-mush which has become the 'It' meat of 2015.” THE DAILY MAIL (2015).

 “American Barbecue Is the Next Big International Food Trend (…)” TASTINGTABLE.COM (2017)

Since the Great Barbecue Craze landed on British shores from the other side of The Pond, top chefs in the UK such as James Martin, Nigella Lawson, Jamie Oliver et al., some of the big UK supermarkets, some restaurants, Borough Market, etc. have all jumped on the new-style barbecue bandwagon and have come out with their own versions of pulled pork e.g. “James Martin`s Pulled Pork”, Nigella Lawson`s Pulled Pork”, Jamie Oliver`s Pulled Pork” derived from recipes from the US (Oklahoma, North Carolina, Kentucky, Southern USA, etc.).

That`s all well and good!

However, what makes barbecue a barbecue is inviting your friends over for some homemade barbecue.

Alas, without the traditional pork butcher`s shops that specialise in the type of pork needed to make DIY pulled pork and/or rib barbecues as this type of shop is now almost non existent on London high streets, it can be said that pork-eating Londoners are missing out on the Great Barbecue Craze now going global, a craze that has revolutionised the way barbecues are made and eaten.

Hey London pork-eating foodie, do you think you`re getting your fair share of the abovementioned foodie craze? I`d like to know!

*****************************************************************************2) SAVING “THE WASTED BILLY”: THE NEEDLESS WASTE OF BILLY GOATS ON BRITISH FARMS

[Multitasking – I thought I might multitask a bit (UK women like to say that men in the UK can`t multitask – Well, this man can LOL!) and raise the issue of the needless slaughter of (baby) billy goats on British farms.]

The Pork Butcher`s Shops I intend to open and mentioned in the 1st Section will, with the kind help of Crowdfunders who I am hereby appealing to, apart from selling pork provide British farmers with a further outlet for billy goat meat, commercialised as “kid meat”.

Indeed, the story of how male goat babies “born in Britain are (being) killed soon after birth” with “around 30,000 billy goats a year (being) slaughtered in the (British) dairy industry, as only females are kept for milk and cheese” has recently made the headlines.

“Britain is one of the few places in the world where goat is not commonly eaten. Three-quarters of the global population do eat it, and it makes up some 10% of all meat consumption worldwide, and 60% of red meat.”

However, better late than never (in the true British tradition), support to end the needless waste of billy goats by selling the meat instead of disposing of it is growing in the UK.

Currently, goat meat is mostly sold by butchers catering for the ethnic minority community and my intended pork butcher`s shops will help create more opening for kid meat.

Not to mention that other players e.g. some UK top chefs, James Whetlor (a kid meat supplier) and Ocado have been gearing up to bring kid meat to more UK consumers.

James Whetlor`s statement to the effect that if (the British public) is eating goat’s cheese and drinking goat’s milk, then really there’s an ethical dimension to what happens to the wasted billys” reflects the growing change in attitudes."

(Reference: McVeigh Tracy (2015), “Honey, I cooked the kid. How Britain fell for goat meat”, [Online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/mar/15/goat-kid-meat-uk-top-food-trend/)

All in all, let`s stop the needless waste of baby (billy) goats on British dairy farms!

* Above all, let`s say NO to Animal Cruelty and to Lack of Sustainability where sourcing of animals for human benefit is concerned!!!

Dear Generous Crowdfunders,

I hope you`ll kindly fund my London pork butcher`s shops enterprise as laid out in my story above.

Specifically, I`m looking to open a couple of such shops to start with and then more as the business becomes profitable.

It is my fervent hope that you will donate generously to make my enterprise a reality and a success, which will no doubt help foster better inter-communal relations in the UK as well as help prevent waste on UK dairy farms.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Mr Nii Akrong