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DocuSign Envelope ID:A7B705FD-OEDD-4AC5-8764-8905D8B8991 F <br /> enjoy the process of figuring out he and other people I cook for like to eat and why. Yet, <br /> Reid's enthusiasm for pork was a mystery to me. <br /> I suspected his Eastern North Carolina upbringing may have had an influence on his pork <br /> love. I grew up in North Carolina too,but my hometown of Chapel Hill was hardly the <br /> heart of Southern tradition. I remember a few"pig pickin's" in our neighborhood, and my <br /> dad helping to stoke the fire all day long,but I remember the community ritual of those <br /> events more than the finished product. I was a bit of a rebel, having proclaimed my <br /> vegetarianism at a young age,probably before ever tasting any of that slow cooked BBQ. <br /> I thought maybe I had restricted my exposure to the pork influences that afforded Reid <br /> such an obvious appreciation. <br /> The more I reflected on my limited experience with pork and meat in general,the more I <br /> realized how important this exposure could be to my life as a cook and consumer of food. <br /> I'm fascinated with people's individual food choices. I love hearing the stories behind <br /> these choices, sometimes neurotic, sometimes fanatical, but always interesting. How <br /> could I truly understand with so much ignorance?I wanted to explore this for myself and <br /> for Reid. This desire to explore and understand led me to Crisco the pig. <br /> As the owner of a bakery/cafe during the beginning of the farm to table movement I had <br /> the opportunity to befriend quite a few local farmers. My farmer friend Tom told me one <br /> day that he won a pig at a greased pig contest, and named him Crisco. He asked to have <br /> my three day-old breads and pastries to fatten Crisco up a bit, and I gladly obliged. <br /> Over the summer we went out to Tom's farm to pay a visit, and got to meet Crisco who <br /> seemed about as happy as they get. He had a good sized pen with plenty of shady trees <br /> and nice dark brown mud. He had a gorgeous view of the Pisgah Mountain range, and <br /> regularly ate pastries and artisan bread for breakfast.Not a bad life for a pig. <br /> As the weather started to cool that year, Tom came asked if he could use my commercial <br /> kitchen. Apparently Crisco was a master escape artist and had been getting into mischief <br /> around the farm. Tom grew dozens of varieties of heirloom garlic, and what pig wouldn't <br /> enjoy a little heirloom garlic with his artisan bread?Tom had chased him around and <br /> watched him eat up garlic meant for market one too many times. It was time for Crisco to <br /> become what he was always destined to be--sausage. <br /> 10 <br />