|
|
Well, they can, of course. My neighbours
frequently take their pigs for a walk and a sea-bath.
Wild pigs are frequently seen, even nowadays,
in large herds, swimming between the Sulu Islands and Borneo.
I'm not quite sure why I think this is
relevant to my man/sea thoughts, but it is. The islanders also throw
their cockerels into the sea for a swim. Both pigs and cocks swim
very well indeed. |
|
|
Another
famous local pig that can swim very well is the totally naked Babirusa,
but that is restricted to Sulawesi, quite definitely on the other
side of the Wallace Line.
Source: An
Ultimate Ungulate Fact Sheet
|
|
|
Pig Origins
|
|
Just
as I was thinking about writing this page, a new study (Greger Larson et al,
Science Vol 307, 11 March 2005) showed that pig
domestication didn't happen just once, but several times,
worldwide.
|
Click here
for larger version
|
Wild
boar originated in South East
Asia, dispersed to India, and then both East and West
across Eurasia. There is a pronounced East/West split between local
wild boar and domestic pig types.
The lower levels of the tree on the left emphasize
the origin of wild pigs in Island South East Asia, where there are
many other species and subspecies.
Later, wild pigs were domesticated in several different locations,
each represented by a coloured area on the map.
One pig species, at least, Sus scrofa, spread as far as India and Europe. It was then domesticated, possibly in
Germany. It also has a subspecies, Sus scrofa vittatus, in
Indonesia
|
|
It used to be thought that early farmers, dispersing into Europe
from the Near East, brought pigs with them, as they did with goats
and sheep, but nobody actually carried pigs to Western Europe
from the early farming communities in the Fertile Crescent - they are quite different to Anatolian/Iranian pigs.
|
No pigs at all seem to have a centre of domestication
in the Levant - but maybe Leviticus and Mohammed had something to
do with that.
Pigs are a very important food source worldwide, except for
this small area in the Near East, where they are disliked. But this
area coincides with two major religions, Islamic and Jewish. Both
forbid, as a major prohibition, the eating of pork. And
that, to the people afflicted by the two religions, deprives them of
a very useful protein resource.
Nobody else carried them - except to Polynesia,
where boatmen took pigs, chicken and vegetables to 'virgin'
islands. And those pigs didn't come from Taiwan, from which the
Polynesians were supposed to have come, but from Halmahera, (part of
the New Guinea grey patch on the map).
In every area where agriculture was
first developed (around 10-12,000 years ago) local pigs were domesticated.
(So far as I can tell, local peccaries were never domesticated in
America)
As usual in these kinds of maps, the
Philippines are left out, although they could be part of the
big dark grey patch that covers Malaysia and half of Indonesia. At least
4 wild pig species are endemic to the Philippines.
The map is incomplete, and a lot more research still needs to be
done, to fill in the great gap between Western Asia and Europe, for
example, and to sort out the pigs of Island South East Asia.
And what about the Near East and Africa? (My
Nigerian friends, when I introduced them to roast pork in London,
assured me that it tasted much like roast missionary).
But it's patently obvious, at least in
my little island, that pigs were domesticated locally. Almost the
only differences between the local varieties and wild boar are their
friendly character and lack of tusks.
|
|
|
|
|
One local wild pig, Sus
barbatus (the same bearded pig seen swimming in large
herds from Borneo to the Sulu Islands), is the one without
the rope around its neck. But I think this may be going too
far - the local domesticated pigs may come from a local
subspecies of Sus scrofa (vittatus)
or even from hybrids with yet another - Sus
philippinensis.
|
The European
wild boar (Sus scrofa scrofa) is quite different.
|
|
|
Lechon Baboy
- Roast Pig
(Lechon means suckling piglet in Spanish, but Filipinos
have appropriated the word to cover anything spit-roasted. Baboy
is pig, but you can also have lechon manok - spit roasted
chicken and I have eaten lechon bibang - spit-roasted
monitor lizard)
|
|
On Philippine islands, almost
every household keeps a pig for a special occasion. This was one I bought for my despedida - leaving party
|
|
|
|
|
It arrived in a sack on the back of a
motorcycle.
|
A quick thrust to the carotid artery and
windpipe and it is despatched.
|
|
|
|
|
Then the outer skin and hair are
scraped off after being soused in boiling water. Usually
half a clam shell is used for this, but nowadays a spoon does just as well.
|
|
|
|
|
Cleared of all hair, it is
impaled on a special spit.
|
Its belly is stuffed with herbs,
spices, and vegetables, all mixed in with 7Up - that, of course, is supposed to improve the crispyness and colour of the outer
skin.
|
|
|
|
|
The belly is sewn with a length of vine,
sealing in all the stuffing.
|
The offal is quick-boiled and served as an
appetizer , dipped in vinegar.
|
|
|
|
|
And the roasting begins.
|
The spit is turned regularly during the full
cooking period
|
|
|
|
|
After about two hours, the skin is getting
crisp and golden; it is basted regularly with coconut oil
|
Then it is served.
|
|
|
|
|
The haunches are kept for use
later, and the rest of the carcase is chopped ready for general
distribution - the party carries on
|
|
|
|
|
Sorry, all other pictures of the
party failed to come out, and the photographer got too drunk to
care.
|
.jpg)
Back to Coconut Studio Index Page
Richard Parker - Siargao Island - November 2005
(Last updated Monday, May 08, 2006)
I welcome comments or corrections on my
site and opinions, so please feel free to email me at:
richardparker01@yahoo.com
|
