November 13, 2008
The Food Issue
Story: The culmination of a year-and-a-half-long series in which an unrepentant omnivore faces his food
Video: Sky Full of Bacon's Mike Gebert worked with Sula to document the Whole Hog Project on video.
Slideshow: The mulefoots' journey from farm to table
Recipes: The top chefs who participated in the Reader's mulefoot dinner adapted some of the dishes for you to try at home.
November 7, 2008
"Farmers aren't going to raise zoo animals": Mike Gebert just completed a trailer for the upcoming Sky Full of Bacon documentary on how our mulefoots got from the farm to Blackbird.
October 20, 2008
Dinner is served: It was a six-act pork circus last night at Blackbird.
October 13, 2008
Blackbird sent along a rough draft of the menu for Sunday's mulefoot dinner.
September 23, 2008
After nearly a year and a half, it's time to see how mulefoots perform on the plate.
Back when we bought our own mulefoot with the aim of following the care and feeding of one of these rare heritage pigs and eventually hosting a public snout-to-tail dinner, I knew there was one chef who'd make the most of it—Paul Kahan. To my great delight, not only has Kahan agreed to cook for us (even in the midst of the frenzy surrounding the opening of his new restaurant, the Publican), but he's enlisted a formidable lineup of talent to help out.
On Sunday, October 19, Kahan will be joined at Blackbird by Paul Virant of Vie, Jason Hammel and Amalea Tshilds of Lula, Blackbird's Mike Sheerin, Avec's Justin Large, and the Publican's Brian Huston in preparing a six-course mulefoot pig dinner—and you're invited.
Tickets are $125 (including wine but not tax or tip). It all starts with a champagne reception at 6, followed by dinner at 6:30. Proceeds benefit Kahan's choice of Slow Food Chicago.
Blackbird, 619 W. Randolph, is taking reservations now at 312-715-0708.
In the meantime, see below for entries in the Whole Hog Project posted in chronological order.
Good Company and Good Food—May 18, 2007
The best way to save the endangered mulefoot pig is to eat it.
Introducing the Whole Hog Project—May 18, 2007
The Reader buys a pig
The Whole Hog Project: More hooves on the ground—May 22, 2007
A second group of piglets arrives
The Whole Hog Project: So what does mulefoot taste like?—June 1, 2007
A mulefoot vs. factory pork showdown
The Whole Hog Project: Name that piglet—June 8, 2007
How to keep track of a herd of pigs
The Whole Hog Project: Meet the farmers, part one—June 20, 2007
Background on farmers Linda Derrickson and Mark Kessenich
The Whole Hog Project: Piglet video from Hillspring's summer solstice festival—June 25, 2007
Linda Derrickson and Mark Kessenich have a summer solstice party and the pigs express their individuality
The Whole Hog Project: Meet the farmers, part two—July 17, 2007
More on farmers Linda Derrickson and Mark Kessenich
The Whole Hog Project: The piglets get their ears pierced—August 7, 2007
How to i.d. a mulefoot
The Whole Hog Project: Change is good—August 21, 2007
The mulefoots move to a new home
The Whole Hog Project: discriminating feeders—September 24, 2007
The mulefoots reject potbelly pig chow.
The Whole Hog Project: pig art by Susan Medaris—October 4, 2007
A Wisconsin artist exhibits her mulefoot paintings
Healthy Meat the Hard Way—November 29, 2007
Introducing Dee Dee, the Reader's mulefoot
Dee Dee: The Video—November 29, 2007
Dee Dee's on-camera debut
The Whole Hog Project: So long, Cong and Cherry, part one—December 19, 2007
A trip to the slaughterhouse
The Whole Hog Project: So Long Cong and Cherry, part two—December 27, 2007
Cong and Cherry meet their fate on the killing floor
The Whole Hog Project: So Long Cong and Cherry, part three—January 15, 2008
The meat comes back from the slaughterhouse
The Whole Hog Project: More piglets coming. A lot more.—February 25, 2008
Dee Dee is pregnant.
The Whole Hog Project: spring piglets, and lots of 'em—April 14, 2008
Dee Dee farrows her piglets
The Whole Hog Project: piglet pics—May 5, 2008
New piglet pics, and Dee Dee takes well to mothering.
The Whole Hog Project: mulefoot montage—May 12, 2008
piglet video
The Whole Hog Project: let's do some numbers—May 20, 2008
A new book on heritage breeds has the mulefoot count all wrong
The Whole Hog Project: fall pig pics—September 10, 2008
The pigs have spent an idyllic summer among the greenery in Argyle, Wisconsin
The Whole Hog Project: Come and get it!—September 23, 2008
The mulefoot dinner at Blackbird is announced -
The Whole Hog Project: chef's brainstorming session—September 30, 2008
The chefs strategize our sold-out mulefoot dinner.
The Whole Hog Project: Why not Dee Dee?—October 6, 2008
Dee Dee gets a reprieve.
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From the Reader blogs The Food Chain Mike Sula: Latest food group: semen
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Jane at 10:14 PM on 9/23/2008
speechless,and sickened...I'm a vegetarian..why send this to general population..lost a reader
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Therese Grisham at 11:07 PM on 9/23/2008
This is disgusting and reprehensible. I'm sorry that you are so exuberant about eating a sentient and highly intelligent animal.
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Byrne of Lecce at 7:35 AM on 9/24/2008
You've just won another reader, sentient and more intelligent than a pig.
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Candie at 8:48 AM on 9/25/2008
A wonderful project! I am all for PETA - People Easting Tasty Animals.
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gstarr at 10:13 AM on 9/25/2008
Um, "thanks" for sending this shit to me.
We've been desperately needing a new alternative weekly in this city since you guys got bought out last year and began looking like a warmed-over Red Eye (a bad choice for any paper).
Looks like I'll quit reading you guys sooner than expected.
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GoFuckYourPatheticSelves at 12:23 PM on 9/26/2008
I sincerely hope this meal poisons you all, you sick pieces of shit.
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patrickteque at 4:18 PM on 9/26/2008
aww don't let 'em get to you, Reader!
I still enjoy your free weekly-ness.
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lara at 4:42 PM on 9/26/2008
hooray for publicly exploring and celebrating our relationship to what we eat! hooray for happy, tasty pigs and happy, aware humans, and boo hiss to bitter vegetarians and tasteless, anonymous, processed, shipped-by-diesel-from-china soy garbage.
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a girl at 3:08 PM on 9/27/2008
disgusting. pigs eat shit. and that means those who eat pigs eat shit.
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travis at 3:24 PM on 9/29/2008
I love vegetarian food, I love steak and bacon too. I am liberal, but I am not conceited to that fact of how things work. I have my own views, but I also read full articles before answering and understand that my view could be wrong.
Um, eating a pig is wrong? I love seeing so many anti-cruelty people get upset about eating. I can't even count the amount of times I have seen you people wearing leather shoes, or eating a big ass burger. Let's face it, you don't want to see the pig on a stick, but the truth be. All meat was once an animal. This is %100 better and better for you then meat from a slaughter house.
Another scary fact you can't face, fishermen and hunters protect more animals and pay for more land conservation then your urban unintelligent, extremes.
Let's build another Starbucks on another corner so I can walk inside and bitch about conservation some more...
sad.
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Alberto at 2:56 PM on 11/13/2008
Thank you for sharing this. As a hunter and fishermen living in a urban city.
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Linda Cairo at 7:01 PM on 11/15/2008
I cannot quite figure out the reason for this artcile. It was disturbing on many levels. The entire topic was offensive, vile, sickening and repulsive. The rapture that all participants take, including the writer, in slaughtering these animals is loathsome. This was apparently written under the veiled reason of educating people on their food, as if The Reader actually believes it is their duty to provide such a service to the public. The people raising the animals are documented as saying they have to kill the pigs in order for more pigs to live. That's just so stupid, it's not even worthy of a comment or exploration. The comments about how much the pig raiser loves her animals is grotesque. The whole story was grotesque. I was an avid reader fan, believing that the cover stories were always well written no matter what the topic. I've always read them from beginning to end, regardless of what my opinions were about them. I've never before allowed one story to decide my views on an entire newspaper but certainly this one has. I will no longer read this paper.
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