The National Pork Board is replacing its longtime slogan "The other white meat" with the hope of improving sales. According to news reports, pig meat sales have "hovered around 50lbs a year for the average American" whereas
chicken sales have grown from "55 lbs per American in 1988 to more than 83 pounds per American in 2008".

Stagnating consumption rates are bad news for the pork industry, yet there are many people who feel this is a positive trend — and not just vegetarians. There are non-vegetarians who refuse to eat pork. For example, the best-selling author of Running with Scissors, Augusten Burroughs once stated on his blog that he doesn't eat pork because, he says, " I just do not think it's civilized to eat things that can think." (Most experts believe pigs are cleaner and more intelligent than dogs.)

And then there's the highly acclaimed author and journalist Christopher Hitchens who devotes a chapter to pigs in one of his books. While the discussion revolves around religion, specifically the prohibitions by various religions against eating pork, Hitchens, who does not state whether he himself ever eats pork, is sympathetic toward pigs. He highlights some interesting facts showing how much humans have in common with these animals.

..."I hope that you have guessed by now what we know in any case--that this fine beast is one of our fairly close cousins. It shares a great deal of our DNA, and there have lately been welcome transplants of skin, heart valves, and kidneys from pigs to humans."

The barbaric vernacular word for roasted human in New Guinea and elsewhere was "long pig": I have never had the relevant degustatative experience myself, but it seems that we do, if eaten, taste very much like pigs.

No Pork, No Problem

Campaigns such as Meatfree Monday, Meatless Monday, and The Great American Meatout provide people with helpful ideas for replacing pork with healthy vegetarian options. Rather than substitute pork with, say, chicken, food-lovers can enjoy meat-free meals for a change.

How about this for a new industry slogan?
Pig: Man's other best friend.