Posted on June 6, 2011 by Porky LeSwine
Are you aware that one in five children in North Carolina is hungry? That is the eye catching statistic cited by Lindsay Gsell of New Media Strategies, who contacted me to share information about a new partnership designed to raise awareness of and combat hunger in the Tar Heel state.
As Lindsay writes, “The Food Effect, a new partnership between the North Carolina Pork Council and the North Carolina Association of Feeding America Food Banks, was created [recently] to combat this issue across the state. This initiative provides North Carolinians a way to give time, voices and funding to these food banks. You can learn more about hunger statistics in North Carolina and where we stand in national rankings by visiting The Food Effect’s website.
Check out what Alan Briggs, Executive Director of the NC Association of Feeding America Food Banks has to say about the campaign in this YouTube video, or watch this video from News 14 Carolina.
By donating a few dollars, spending a Saturday volunteering or making friends and family aware on Facebook, we can make a difference in the lives of these children. To find out more about donating your time, your money or your voice, visit http://www.thefoodeffect.org. Spread the word by liking The Food Effect on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/thefoodeffect, or follow the project on twitter at @thefoodeffect.”
This looks like a great cause, thanks to Lindsay for sharing it with us.
Filed under: Miscellaneous | Tagged: Goo, Hunger, NC Pork Council | Leave a comment »
Posted on May 9, 2011 by Porky LeSwine
I spent my weekend with my family instead of preparing posts for this site. I know, I know, time to get my priorities in order.
Happy Mother’s Day to all the barbecue mamas out there, from the women who run their own restaurants (e.g., Bridges Barbecue Lodge in Shelby) to the mothers working as waitresses to the moms and grandmothers who help prepare food for church BBQ fundraisers. And happy Mother’s Day to Mrs. Porky LeSwine, a wonderful mother even if she and her two beautiful daughters have yet to acquire a taste for chopped pork.
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Posted on May 2, 2011 by Porky LeSwine
A tip of the snout to my biggest supporters (and occassional blog readers), my mom and dad, who sent me two pork-related news items from China.
First, in an article that is evidently true even though it sounds like it is ripped off from The Onion: a food additive that turns pork into beef. The additive does a convincing job of transforming relatively inexpensive meats like pork into beef. Of course, there may be a few minor side effects; as the article says, “long-term use of additives can cause slow poisoning, deformity, and even cancer.” But, hey, if you are going to be poisoned it seems like slow poisoning is the way to go (after all, it allows plenty of time to digest your fake-beef meal before you die).
Think the above pork-beef is unappetizing? Well, at least it doesn’t glow in the dark. A Shanghai resident identified as Miss Chen made dumplings with her family one recent evening and put the leftover pork on a table in the kitchen before heading to bed. She was in for a rude awakening later that night. According to an article that includes some disturbing photos, “At 11pm, Miss Chen got out of bed to use the toilet, and suddenly noticed a faint blue glow coming from the kitchen, and that the bright blue glow was coming from the pork itself!” Rest assured, this blue-glowing pork was deemed safe to eat by local authorities so I’m sure there is nothing to worry about. After all, China has a sterling reputation for monitoring product safety.
Until I hear some better news about pork in Asia’s China, I’ll stick to getting my barbecue pork from places like Gary’s in China Grove.
Filed under: Miscellaneous | Tagged: Outside NC | Leave a comment »
Posted on April 29, 2011 by Porky LeSwine
I discovered recently that legendary NC BBQ eater, author and TV host Bob Garner has a website. Check it out here. Bob has kindly agreed to a BBQ&A with me, so I hope to publish that interview sometime in the not too distant future. Until then, I highly recommend his two outstanding books on NC BBQ.
Filed under: Miscellaneous | 6 Comments »
Posted on April 13, 2011 by Porky LeSwine
I’m no doctor, nor do I play one on TV, but I was still concerned by this headline: “Barbecue raises money for inflammatory bowel disease [IBD] research.”
According to an article on the Inside Toronto website, “The MandM [Meat Shops] Charity BBQ Day began in 1989 when store founder Mac Voisin learned Canadians suffer from IBD at an unusually high rate.” It turns out that “BBQ” in this case means simply to food cooked on a grill: “People can receive a hamburger or hot dog,a drink and a bag of chips for a minimum donation of $2.50,” explains the article. Perhaps Canadians suffer from IBD at an usually high rate due to all the burgers, hot dogs and chips? Just a theory.
There is no doubt that this event is for a good cause and I applaud MandM Meat Shops for their involvement. Still, isn’t a junk food cookout to benefit folks with inflammatory bowel disease akin to holding an omelette breakfast to raise money for people allergic to eggs?
Filed under: Miscellaneous | Tagged: Outside NC | Leave a comment »
Posted on March 25, 2011 by Porky LeSwine
A tip of the snout to alert reader “Cracklin’s” Calhoun for sending me the link to the below photo. Read all about this hog of a chair–your’s for just $950–right
here.
Looks like hog heaven to me.
Filed under: Miscellaneous | Tagged: Odds & ends | Leave a comment »
Posted on February 28, 2011 by Porky LeSwine
Forget Waldo, leave a comment to guess where Porky was when he took the below picture. Hint: it’s a tiny barbecue joint named after a tiny town (hamlet?) down east.
A true barbecue shack if there ever was one.
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Posted on February 14, 2011 by Porky LeSwine
A young boy's first taste of barbecue. Love at first kiss.
Filed under: Miscellaneous | Tagged: High holidays | 3 Comments »
Posted on February 7, 2011 by Porky LeSwine
[Editor’s note: This post was originally scheduled to run one week ago but was embargoed until today due to a dispute with Fox Sports that has since been resolved in BBQJew.com’s favor. Please accept our sincere apologies for the delay, as we fully understand that sports reporting is time sensitive and it would have been more desirable for this post to run as originally scheduled.]
What better day of the year to eat barbecue (ribs especially) than Super Bowl Sunday? And what better pre-game activity than guessing the winner and final score? Both the Packers and Steelers had impressive seasons and have earned their berths in the big game. Pittsburgh and Green Bay appear on paper to be evenly matched, but only one team can win. That team? My not so well educated prediction follows.
I predict that the first half of the game will be surprisingly one sided, with the Packers controlling the action on both sides of the ball and jumping out to a 21-3 lead, before the Steelers score a touchdown with a few seconds left to go into halftime down 21-10. In the second half, the Steelers will strike quickly to cut the Packers’ lead to 21-17. In the end though, I predict the Packers will prevail over the Steelers 31-25. Will it pan out like that? Only time will tell, so tune in on Sunday to find out.
Whatever the final score, I just hope it’s a good game this year. What’s your prediction?
Filed under: Miscellaneous | Tagged: Barbecue Sports, High holidays, Super Bowl | Leave a comment »
Posted on February 2, 2011 by Porky LeSwine
Typically, when we talk about ground hog on this website we are referring to sausage, but today we want to wish you a happy other kind of groundhog day. And what better way to celebrate Punxsutawney Phil’s shadow watching party than with a little groundhog news?
Evidently not all groundhogs are as peaceful as good ol’ Punx Phil, as this article illustrates. The short version: “A rabid groundhog attacked a family having an outdoor barbeque at their home in Salem… .” That would be Salem, MA, home of those infamous witch trials that we read about in school. Salem resident/groundhog revenge victim numero uno Nick Konstadt, perhaps showing the ill effects of his brush with Punx Phil’s cousin by exhibiting incoherent speech, described the groundhog attack as follows: “It like, run at me, come out from right there, and I’d like stick my foot out, and then it would run into the raspberry bush, and then it would come back out again. It would make this really high-pitched sound… It was trying to be playful maybe, like it was like a younger groundhog or something.” I hope you got your rabies shots, Nick, just to be safe.
Let this cautionary tale be a lesson to all. Indeed, it’s far safer to eat ground hog than to watch a groundhog or his shadow. (Editor’s note: When the jokes are that lame, we’re surely bound for six more weeks of winter.)
Filed under: Miscellaneous | Tagged: Groundhog Day, High holidays | Leave a comment »
Are you aware that one in five children in North Carolina is hungry? That is the eye catching statistic cited by Lindsay Gsell of New Media Strategies, who contacted me to share information about a new partnership designed to raise awareness of and combat hunger in the Tar Heel state.
BBQ Jew 