A new, very wonderful site (for bacon-lovers)

http://porkknifeandspoon.com/

Oh, MY.

Nice, but LTH isn't mentioned as a resource whereas Chowhound and Epicurious are. Sniff.

Geo

Love that tat!

down with corporate pork

yeah, i don't much get it either. what's so special? there are currently about 4,330 blogs about pork/bacon. this one doesn't appear to be anything special. and it seems to be a wholly-owned subsidiary of big pork.

for me, the take-away from reading that blog is that bloggers are now being hired by big industry councils to produce material that others are already producing elsewhere, independently.

They can't seriously expect us to swallow that tripe.

Registrant:
National Pork Board
1776 N.W. 114th Street
Clive, IA 50325
US
515-223-2625

Great investigative work!

Edit: I just noticed this on the site: "PorkKnifeandSpoon.com is the official blog of the National Pork Board and aims to educate people on the power of pork ..."

You'd never know if you didn't read the fine print, though.

So the Pork Board is paying two food writers to produce a blog. Do you object to writers earning a living? Do you object to farmers banding together to promote their products?

I'm not sure I understand the dismay over marketers turning to new media to spread their message. This seems like the modern-day equivalent of producing recipe handouts for the grocery store.

There's nothing devious going on here. There's a big ad for "The Other White Meat" and they say clearly on the the home page, "PorkKnifeandSpoon.com is the official blog of the National Pork Board and aims to educate people on the power of pork - including its ease of preparation, versatility and taste. The National Pork Board manages communication with U.S. pork producers and the public through Checkoff-funded research, promotions and consumer information programs." It's not hidden: It's right in the sidebar under "About this blog."

Checkoff programs don't promote only corporate producers. They are required to promote agricultural products in a generic way, and they're overseen by the USDA. Both big and small producers benefit.

Here's another Pork Board site, concentrating on heirloom breeds, organics and smaller producers: Niche Pork.

LAZ, tnx so much for that Niche Pork site--it's very valuable for those of us interested in getting heritage pork, which some KC pals and I are currently engaged in doing.

Checkoff programs are necessities for producers (grape growers everywhere use them), and often provide valuable services in getting the consumer and producer together, as does the niche pork site. I used it and found 4 free-range, farm-direct pork producers within 100 miles of my zip code. Couldn't ask for more!

Geo

Do you object to writers earning a living? Do you object to farmers banding together to promote their products?

Not at all. In fact, the first thing that crossed my mind was "how can I get in on that action?"

But I'm not sure where you're coming from, LAZ. I didn't hear anything resembling "dismay" or "devious" from anyone commenting. I just didn't find the blog noteworthy or interesting, given the literally hundreds of other pork-themed blogs out there, most of which have a bit more personality.

That more or less explains my reaction, which was "eh...not very interesting"....the blog reads like an industry-driven recipe packet or whatever (as you described). That might be nice for some, but that's not what I'm looking for from a blog.

Well, then, ok. Here's a blog that helps us all: bacon chocolate chip cookies. Oh yes.

Geo

elakin wrote:But I'm not sure where you're coming from, LAZ. I didn't hear anything resembling "dismay" or "devious" from anyone commenting.

"down with corporate pork"..."wholly-owned subsidiary of big pork"..."can't seriously expect us to swallow that tripe"...listing the registrant is if it needed to be investigated..."fine print".... All that added up to dismay and disapproval to me, as if the blog were some kind of secret front for Smithfield.

I did have same thought about the bloggers' action that you did, though.

Geo wrote:Well, then, ok. Here's a blog that helps us all: bacon chocolate chip cookies. Oh yes.

Geo

Wow, these look fantastic!

Obviously my Simpsons reference was missed.

elakin wrote:

given the literally hundreds of other pork-themed blogs out there, most of which have a bit more personality

This morning I excitedly and expectantly followed a link that was to http://www.jamonyourface.ca. Jamon Your Face, I thought to myself, I bet this is going to be a badass blog with attitude, a sense of humor, and a love for a variety of quality pork products! (Beyond "Oh man, check out what I wrapped bacon around! What's that, you want variety? Well then, check out what I stuffed bacon inside of!")

Alas, it was to Jam On Your Face, a nice looking but unspectacular (at least on a cursory glance) recipe & home cooking blog that was not all pork, all the time. Which, as elakin intimated, isn't an issue considering how many other pork blogs (porkogs? blogorks?) there are out there.

Sure I could make excuses about how it was early when I saw it, but I think the real issue is I apparently now see urls through pork-tinted lenses. Which, if you look hard enough, I'm sure somebody has created and posted on a blog.

Not a blog, but the K.C. Star today announced a new event: Bacon-Fest 2009, which will feature the guys who invented (? developed? conceived?) the Bacon Explosion.

Best thing is, Bacon-Fest is a *benefit* for a health outfit!! No irony there, eh?

Geo

I like reading blogs for ideas on what to cook and that pork belly roulade looks amazing.

jesteinf wrote:Obviously my Simpsons reference was missed.

here's another one that is a little less obtuse

Homer: Hey! [grabs it, stomps on it]
I saved your life! That egg sandwich could have killed you by
cholesterol.
Lenny: Pfft, forget it, Homer. While it has been established that eggs
contain cholesterol, it has not yet been proven conclusively that
they actually raise the level of serum cholesterol in the human
blood stream.
Homer: So one of those Egg Council creeps got to you too, huh?
Lenny: Aw, you've got it all wrong, Homer. It's not like that.
[a man in an egg costume creeps, then runs, away]
Homer: You'd better run, egg!

skess wrote: This morning I excitedly and expectantly followed a link that was to http://www.jamonyourface.ca. Jamon Your Face, I thought to myself, I bet this is going to be a badass blog with attitude, a sense of humor, and a love for a variety of quality pork products

Haha! Skess - what makes you think that a url mentioning jam would be a pork blog!?

Jam on aka "jamon" = ham in espanol