High (rise) on the hog
High (rise) on the hog
What I talk about when I talk about raising pigs in high-rise buildings, meal-replacement bars made by ultrasonic waves and "chocolate" gianduja.
I was recently forwarded a link to an article in the Guardian about a high-rise building with the sole purpose of housing and raising pigs for human consumption. That this is far away in China, both mentally and physically, doesn’t make me feel any better. (As if this could never happen in the US?)
Like cultured meat, it evokes outrageous ideas lifted from the pages of dystopian science fiction novels.
I still eat chicken and pork, but rarely. I still eat fish, but not often. The reasons are health related -– my blood sugar is easier to control if I skip red meat entirely and most animal protein if I eat more than a few scant ounces. But there are times when I’m so stunned by what I read that I consider changing my line of reasoning to put animal welfare first.
And, it seems, this is old news. The 26-story building began production this past October. Did it ever make waves on Twitter?
Some stats: the 26-floor “farm” has a capacity to kill 1.2 million hogs annually (or 100k a month); pigs are restricted to one floor for their whole lives; the animals are fed by 30,000 automatic feeding spots operated from a central control room; the building cost was 4 billion yuan or $540 million US. When fully up and running, this “farm” will be the largest in the world.
According to the Guardian, there’s a second building going up behind the first. China is big—just 2% smaller than the US—so why use buildings and not farms? One reason is to use less land, but another is to have tighter biological controls, which not everyone agrees with. Buildings like these were approved, after the 2019 swine flu wiped out the country’s hog population. (Over half the world’s pork is consumed in China but the US still consumes more per capita.)
And it’s not just the animals that won’t have a good life, workers won’t either. They’ll have to go through multiple health tests and, once cleared, they won’t be able to leave the site until their next break–-possibly once a week.
I don’t mean to be a total bummer as I close out the holiday season, neither do I intend to disparage China’s practices alone. All industrial animal agriculture has hard facts to resolve if you’re humane in any way.
My own food choices aren’t made based on price or convenience—a luxury not afforded by all. I have the time to learn about absurd ventures like this 26-story building and be upset that it exists. But how many of us will be upset or even care? We are a world full of individuals who are constantly making different decisions. Will food production that feeds billions ever be less harmful to the planet?
Welp, what can we do? In China, I don’t know, but in the US there are dozens if not hundreds of organizations you can support that work to end harm to animals. Here are a few options: Donate to Animal Place, a non-profit farm animal rescue in Grass Valley, CA. Support Waterkeeper Alliance, which runs campaigns to fight pollution stemming from industrialized meat production. Champion grass root activism around the world with The Save Movement. You can also eat less meat, never buy cheap meat or stop eating meat.
Gifty tidbits:
For the nutrition obsessed: snack bars made with ultrasonic waves that replaces binders like brown rice syrup or honey. If you’re in the US, you can order them from Dirt Kitchen.
For the socially motivated: these cards from Vaughn Tan. Vaughn appears in the last chapter of my book. His answer to my question was one of my favorites. These cards help you question your rote habits and form new pathways of thinking.
idk: the first training tool for productive discomfort by Vaughn Tan For the hard-to-buy-for foodie friend: cacao-free gianduja from WNWN Labs and DLISH, a luxury site out of Milan. Why do we need a cacao-free chocolate solution? What are they making it with? What about cacao farmers? Read my piece in The Atlantic about it.
For the young chef in your life: a children’s book about where cultivated meat comes from by Anita Broellochs and Alex Shirazi.
Where Do Hot Dogs Come From? By Anita Broellochs and Alex Shirazi.
From someone who doesn’t eat meat because of animal compassion this outrages me. It also makes me so sad. It’s a modern version of a slaughterhouse.
I am convinced the future is vegetarian. This just can’t be the direction we’re heading right?