The Pig Leg on Our Table

I’m not a vegetarian, but I’ve always sympathized with those who abstain from meat. In fact, I’ve tried going meatless, but I always end up with some really kick-butt anemia. Still, I don’t like to eat it because for one, I don’t like the taste of it. Two, farm animals always look at me with Laila eyes, making me feel like I’m eating my dog. Ruyman thinks my logic on the second one is faulty and he’s probably right. But like most Americans, I have difficult time eating food that is still recognizably animal in origin. This becomes a bit of a problem here. Not only are the Spanish hugely carnivorous, but they have no qualms about the ethics of being so.

One of the signature dishes of Spain is called jamon serrano, which literally means mountain ham. In its traditional form, jamon serrano the whole leg of a pig, from the top of the shoulder to the end of the hoof. Since it’s salted and dried rather than cooked, everything is pretty much intact, including some of the bristles near the hoof. Usually, it’s sold with a rope around the food so you can hang it from a hook or knob overhead. It also comes with a wooden stand that cradles the leg. The surface is covered by a loosely-woven cheese cloth to protect it. In honor of the holidays, now there’s one sitting on our kitchen table. (Because it’s been salted and cured, jamon serrano is not refrigerated.)

Don’t get me wrong. I like the stuff, especially on warm fresh bread with new goat cheese. I just don’t like being reminded that I am, in fact, eating another creature. Especially a pig, since they’re supposedly rivaled in intelligence only by primates and dolphins. 

But truth be told, after thinking about it so much, I have a wicked craving for a ham sandwich.