Pig 05049

During a three-year study, Rotterdam-based Christien Meindertsma tracked all 185 products made from a single pig she selected at random from a commercial farm in the Netherlands. She created this book, named after the pig’s processing number, to provide an illustrated overview of her research. While featuring expected food products like bacon, pork rinds, and sausage, the volume also catalogs numerous items less commonly thought of as pig by-products, including pharmaceutical tablets, X-ray film, insulin, antifreeze, heart valves, paper, cigarettes, and even the glue that binds the pages of the book.

In this work Meindertsma used the life of a single animal to explore the complexity of the meat-processing industry, the relationship between humanity and livestock, and the consumption of resources.