Sunday, July 15, 2007

Ribs Within BBQ Team

Rarely have we seen a more accommodating "food" animal! (Yes, there was this herd of obliging pigs, but none of them had the winning personality of this bizarre fellow.)

Regardless, what we have here is the epitome of the Accomplice Animal. He frees us from the shackles that keep us in the slaughterhouse, there to stun and eviscerate pig after pig after pig. The line never stops! The swinging carcasses keep coming. We kill as fast as we can, but we can never catch up. How we long for another species to dispatch! A single chicken to gut!

Even removed from the abattoir as most of us are—removed from the killing, the blood covering the charnel house workers' hands like gloves—echoes of the slaughterhouse reverberate around our kitchens. All of which makes the Ribs Within pig a godsend. For he is a self-killing pig. He offers us a new myth. Behold! He opens a bloodless aperture and painlessly removes his own ribs for us! They're so fresh they're still on fire. (?)

It's possible he has even supplied ribs—the ribs of his family?—to spell out the name of the barbecue team he represents. Notice also that the 1st-place blue ribbon inside his abdomen has absorbed all of the blood we might have expected to find. See, this pig even cleans up after himself. Such thoughtful livestock!

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