Salo Revisited

By Walter Kish

Several months ago, I wrote a piece on that much loved delicacy of Ukrainian gastronomy known as salo, or cured pork fat to those uninitiated into its many virtues.  That column spurred more comments and feedback than I have received in a long, long time.  Regardless of whether one is a fan of salo or not, most Ukrainians are not shy or reticent in sharing their views on this simple yet controversial staple of the traditional Ukrainian peasant diet.

Last week was no exception, when at a banquet I was taken to task on my salo column by one of the most respected and esteemed elders of the Ukrainian community, one Yaroslav Bilak.  He pointed out that in no uncertain terms was  it not only inappropriate but misleading of me in my column to compare salo to what we know in Canada as bacon.  They are very different cuts of meat (if I can use that term) coming from different parts of the pig.  Bacon comes from the underside of the pig, or pork belly, whereas salo comes primarily from the top or side of the pig and in North America is more commonly referred to as fatback.  According to pan Bilak, it’s like comparing apples and oranges – they have similarities but are distinct in their own right.  I was not sure I entirely bought into his argument until he reminded me that he spent part of his career working for Essex Packers and likely has probably forgotten more about the meat packing business than I can ever hope to know.  At that point, I yielded to superior knowledge and experience.

As an aside, the reference to Essex Packers invoked more than a few memories about this venerable and, for a long time, successful Ukrainian meat packing business owned by the legendary Hnat Poworoznyk, whose activism and philanthropy made a significant and positive impact to the Ukrainian community in Southern Ontario in the decades following the Second World War.  Although I can’t say so definitively, I would assume from his generous physique that Hnat was also probably a great fan of salo.

In any case, I think regardless of the actual geographic origins of salo on a pig’s carcass, nutritional studies increasingly seem to indicate that moderate consumption of salo, or any other animal fat product, is not only not harmful, but actually vital to having a proper, balanced, healthy diet.  The key obviously is moderation, and all the experts seem to agree that humans require that at least 20% or so of their daily caloric intake come from fat.

I guess the real issue comes from that very human failing, that when we discover something that particularly appeals to our taste buds, we are prone to over-indulge, be it sweets, junk food, alcohol and yes, even salo!  There is also that common human tendency to feel that when someone tells us that something is bad for us, rather than discourage us, it makes the “forbidden fruit” somehow more desirable.

Ukrainians, being a somewhat stubborn and anarchistic lot, are particularly prone to this affliction.  In Ukraine, when it comes to salo, they are particularly resistant to any claims that eating large quantities of this staple can be deleterious to one’s health.  In fact, they revel in its consumption.  As an example, in the City of Lutsk in Western Ukraine, they hold an annual Salo Festival dedicated to the conspicuous glorification and ingestion of this lardinous specialty.  As part of the festivities they hold a salo eating contest.  The current record holder is one Volodymr Stryhaniv who in 2007 put away one kilo or 2.2 pounds of salo (accompanied with bread and onions) in the incredible time of twenty minutes.  Just thinking about it makes my arteries harden.

Although the consumption of salo and pork product in general shows no sign of decreasing in Ukraine, the same cannot be said of North America.  In Canada, pork consumption has been declining for most of the past decade. Over the six year period 2001-2006 it fell by almost 20% and pork producers are scrambling for ideas on how to reverse this disturbing trend. 

The most novel approach undoubtedly is that put forth by the High Plains Bioenergy Company of Oklahoma City, which believe it or not, has invested in a $40 million plant that converts pork fat into biodiesel fuel.  Yes, you heard it right; soon our cars may for all intents and purposes be running on processed salo!  I guess I better go and enjoy my salo before the biodiesel industry corners the market on pork fat.