Pigs · room 4 of 6 · The dehesa

Pigs in Spain

The Iberian pig under the oaks, the acorn season, the ham label, pork as a test of faith, and the pigs that sailed west.

The wild boar Becoming domestic Pigs in Europe Pigs in Spain Pigs in the Americas Reality?

Southwest Spain

The Iberian pig and the dehesa

biologyeconomics

Claim: Spain's Iberian pig is the product of a landscape. Evidence: the dark, long-legged cerdo ibérico is raised in the dehesa, a working savanna of holm oak and cork oak grazed by pigs, sheep and cattle across Extremadura, western Andalusia and Salamanca. People shaped the dehesa over centuries, and it is now protected as a valuable habitat.

Ask: is the dehesa wild nature, farmland, or both?

Sources: Michelin Guide, "Jamón ibérico, el lujo de las dehesas" (2019); Spain, Real Decreto 4/2014 (Iberian quality standard)

Illustration: Urbanicity house studio (SI-generated)

October to March

Montanera: the acorn season

biologyeconomics

Claim: the best Iberian ham depends on a few months of acorns. Evidence: during the montanera, roughly from late autumn to late winter, Iberian pigs roam the dehesa eating fallen acorns (bellotas) and grass, which gives their fat its high share of oleic acid. Spain's 2014 quality standard requires a minimum weight gain on acorns for a ham to be called "de bellota."

Ask: why would a law set rules for what a pig ate?

Sources: Spain, Real Decreto 4/2014 (Iberian quality standard)

Illustration: Urbanicity house studio (SI-generated)

Since 2014

Black, red, green, white: reading the label

economicstrade & commercialization

Claim: a colored tag on every Iberian ham tells its pig's life. Evidence: under Spain's 2014 standard, a black tag means 100% Iberian breed fattened on acorns; red means acorn-fed but crossbred (at least half Iberian); green means "cebo de campo," raised outdoors on grain and pasture; white means "cebo," raised on a farm on grain.

Ask: labels turn a pig's diet and ancestry into a price. Who benefits from the system: farmers, buyers, or the pigs?

Sources: Consumo Responde (Junta de Andalucía), "Precinto y etiquetado" for Iberian ham; Spain, Real Decreto 4/2014

Illustration: Urbanicity house studio (SI-generated)

Rural Spain

La matanza: the winter pig day

historyeconomics

Claim: the yearly pig day was one of the great family events of village life. Evidence: in the cold months, relatives and neighbors gathered to process a household pig over several days, salting hams and making chorizo, morcilla and lard to last the year. The custom has faded under modern food-safety rules and now survives mostly as a festival.

Ask: what holds a community together when everyone works on the same task?

Sources: "Matanza del cerdo," Wikipedia (Spanish), as a starting point

Illustration: Urbanicity house studio (SI-generated)

1492 to 1600s

Pork as a test of faith

history

Claim: in Inquisition Spain, eating or refusing pork could become evidence about a person's religion. Evidence: after the expulsion of Jews in 1492, and later of Muslims, many people converted under pressure. Inquisitors and neighbors treated avoiding pork as a possible sign of secret Judaism or Islam, so some families displayed pork in public; the insult "marrano," also the word for pig, was used against converts from Judaism, though its exact origin is debated.

Ask: how can a food become a test of belonging? Compare the dietary laws on outline 251 of the theory notebook.

Sources: Henry Kamen, The Spanish Inquisition: A Historical Revision (Yale, 1997); David M. Gitlitz, Secrecy and Deceit: The Religion of the Crypto-Jews (Jewish Publication Society, 1996); Underground Social Science, outline 251, "Some pig"

Illustration: Urbanicity house studio (SI-generated)

1500s

Extremadura: swineherds and conquistadors

history

Claim: the pig country of Extremadura sent many of Spain's conquistadors. Evidence: Hernán Cortés, Francisco Pizarro and Hernando de Soto all came from Extremadura. The story that Pizarro herded pigs as a boy in Trujillo comes from the chronicler López de Gómara and is probably a legend, but pigs did travel with the conquest as walking food.

Ask: why do legends of humble beginnings attach to famous people?

Sources: John Hemming, The Conquest of the Incas (1970); Francisco López de Gómara, Historia general de las Indias (1552)

Illustration: Urbanicity house studio (SI-generated)

1493

The pigs that sailed with Columbus

historybiology

Claim: pigs reached the Americas on Columbus's second voyage. Evidence: in 1493 the fleet carried livestock from the Canary Islands, reportedly including eight pigs, to Hispaniola; with no natural enemies they multiplied quickly, and later expeditions, de Soto's among them, drove pigs across the continent.

Ask: the historian Alfred Crosby called this the "Columbian Exchange." What did the pig change for the people already living there?

Sources: Alfred W. Crosby, The Columbian Exchange (1972); Bartolomé de las Casas, Historia de las Indias

Illustration: Urbanicity house studio (SI-generated)

1539

Hernando de Soto's pigs landed here

historybiology

In May 1539 Hernando de Soto landed on the Tampa Bay coast, at or near what is now De Soto National Memorial in Bradenton, with soldiers, horses and a herd of pigs. The pigs walked with the expedition across the Southeast; accounts say the herd grew from about thirteen to several hundred. Escaped pigs became the ancestors of the South's feral hogs, and pigs may also have spread European diseases to Native peoples.

The pig gallery starts a few miles from this museum's home in Bradenton.

Sources: National Park Service, De Soto National Memorial; Charles Hudson, Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun (Georgia, 1997)

Illustration: Urbanicity house studio (SI-generated)

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