ONCE upon a time, there were three little pigs — a Duroc hybrid, a Berkshire and an Ibérico — that merrily settled in the great American house of pork.
“I shall mature rapidly and produce large litters and be the dominant commodity breed,” said the hybrid. “And I shall be the premier heritage hog,” said the Berkshire. “And my ham shall be touted by grand chefs as the most flavorful — and most expensive — in the world,” said the Ibérico, with the slightest lisp, being from southern Spain, of course.
Suddenly, Mangalitsa, a huge woolly pig from Hungary, knocked on the door. “Three little pigs, let me in — let me in!”
“Not by the hair on our chinny-chin-chins,” they replied. “Then,” the Mangalitsa said, “I’ll huff, and I’ll puff, and I’ll blow your house in!”
Well, maybe not yet. Mangalitsa — despite its unctuous, intense flavor — has a very long way to go before it can push aside the better-known porkers. But a small band of farmers and purveyors think this obese breed, only recently returned from near-extinction, can become the next It Hog in the great American pig-out.
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