Donald Link's Piglet

James Beard Ward-Winning Chef Donald Link is a Swallow-Bellied Mangalitsa breeder. Above is a photo of forager Ashley Locklear holding one of his piglets.

Chef Donald Link

The first crawfish I ever at at a crawfish boil were cooked by Donald. They were produced by his cousin Billy, a rice farmer and crawfish producer, who drove them to Memphis from south Louisiana. It was a wonderful experience.

Here's a video showing Donald talking about the Mangalitsa we competed with in Memphis In May.

Suisun Valley Farm's Pigs and Products

Illtud has a post about Shane's pigs and products. I copied his photos here. You can find them and more on his blog.


I find it amazing that a bunch of ugly-looking, manure-covered pigs can produce such wonderful products.

It strikes me that the Mangalitsa pigs have no idea that they taste so much better than all the other pigs in the USA. They really produce some of the tastiest food made in the USA. If they only knew, it might go to their heads.

Another Wedge Oak Farm Photo

Wedge Oak Farm's photos keep trickling in.

If you live near Tennessee and want Swallow-Bellied Mangalitsa pigs, call Karen at at 615-766-3773 for more info.

Mangalitsa Pig Porter WINS!

The Mangalitsa Pig Porter from Right Brain Brewery took home a GOLD MEDAL:

Likewise, Right Brain’s Mangalitsa Pig Porter took home the gold in the experimental beer category. The concoction, introduced this summer, is brewed using cold smoked Mangalitsa Pigs, and is just one of the several experimental brews offered by the Traverse City brewery.

Wedge Oak Farm

We sold some Swallow-Bellied Mangalitsa pigs to Tennessee's Wedge Oak Farm.

Some of her pigs will turn up at the Memphis in May. The Fatback Collective took a trophy in Memphis a few months ago.

Call Karen at 615-766-3773 for more info.

Girls Love Mangalitsa Soap

If you are the sort of guy who gives girls presents, you might want to give them Mangalitsa soap.

I like Mangalitsa soap. It is slick and moisturizes the skin better than any other soap I've used. The slickness makes it great for shaving. However, my appreciation for the stuff is utilitarian; if the soap didn't work particularly well, I wouldn't use it.



My own little experience suggests that in general, girls like soap, the frillier the better.

The two young women pictured accosted me and asked if I had any soap for them, as if it was Halloween and I have to give them free stuff.* I hadn't given them any previously- a neighbor had. I'd given him the soap because he'd done me a favor.

This tells me that the soap from Lather Unusual is what girls crave.


Buy the soap.


* They are adults (old enough to smoke!), but somehow the soap gets them acting like little girls, expecting handouts. I gave it to them because I figured I'd get an easy blog post out of it.

Johnston County Hams - Cooking LIght

Johnston County Hams just won an award from Cooking Light Magazine -- best in meat for their Mangalitsa hams (made from our raw material).

As they explain, "We tasted products from around the country to find the best of the best from small-production food artisans."

ORDER THE HAMS HERE

It is no surprise that Johnston County Hams won; they are using Mangalitsa pigs.

People Don't Know their Pig Parts

CrossFitter enjoying some Mangalitsa lardo

There's an article that talks up lard and lardo. Wonderful!

But then rather than using a photo of lardo or lard, they illustrate it with a picture of a cured pig jowl (guanciale). That looks a bit gross to me - there's a lot of glands in it, and they look a bit gross.

I'm guessing 99.99% of the Telegraph readers didn't spot the incongruity between the photo and the article. Why would they? At the same time, It took me about 1/10th of a second to notice it and have a cascade of emotions about it.

Paleo Diet Update

Me after starting a Mangalitsa/paleo diet

We took some photos of Spider Club. You can see me and others doing aerial tricks.

What I eat

I mention it here because I'm eating a lot of Mangalitsa (meat and especially fat), and am in the best shape I've ever been. You can see plenty of people who've radically improved their body composition similarly at robbwolf.com.

After Mangalitsa/paleo diet

Robb Wolf helped me construct a Mangalitsa-based paleo diet/exercise program. I eat a ridiculous amount of Mangalitsa (meat and especially fat). I'm fairly low-carb (150g/day or so on workout days, less on off days), so that means I need to eat lots of Mangalitsa fat - a bit like these guys.

At Robb's advice, I'm doing heavy lifting to get bigger and stronger. I'm around 12% body fat. I'm stronger and leaner than I've ever been.

Before Mangalitsa/paleo diet.

Here's a photo of me from 2007. I'm wearing a few layers, but you can see I was fat like a Mangalitsa back then.

It blows my mind that eating fat pigs can turn a two-legged fat pig into fairly lean and strong monkey.