West Midlands' Icon: The Humble Pork Scratching
The West Midlands is home to a strong culinary heritage. The culinary style may not be widely adopted or to the taste of many. Despite this, the food that so many of us grew up with is part of the tapestry of a rich history dating back many years, and one particularly delicacy certainly hogs the spotlight.
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00:00 Live Lung being a stiple of the region's food culture, offered alongside hearty points in local taverns,
00:06 the Humble Pork Scratching is deeply rooted in the West Midlands industrial past,
00:10 dating back to the 1800s. As the region industrialised, workers sought out affordable,
00:16 calorie-dense food to sustain themselves. Families would get their pig skin, often from pigs riced at
00:22 home, boil it to remove the hair, cut it up and deep fry it in a pot of fat. The result was a
00:28 crunchy snack that was cost-effective, while offering plenty of flavour. Their association
00:34 with tradition and identity also plays a role in their popularity, intrinsic to our heritage,
00:39 linking current generations with their forebears who worked in the area's factories and mines.
00:44 The emergence of pubs during the period further ingrained pork scratchings in local food culture.
00:50 Publicans offered them at the bar, complimenting the aisles and stouts they served.
00:55 The salty flavour proved to be the perfect accompaniment to a good point, leading local
01:00 people to develop a fondness for them. While they wouldn't traditionally be considered a health food,
01:06 the recent wave of interest in protein-rich, low-carb diets has contributed to a resurgence
01:11 in their popularity elsewhere. Today they're sometimes even marketed as a guilt-free alternative
01:17 to crisps and other carb-heavy snacks. Admittedly, you couldn't be blind for thinking a mix of pig
01:24 skin and lard would be a somewhat acquired taste in an age where more elegant and exotic food is so
01:30 readily available. Do people here in the heart of England still hold much regard for this iconic
01:37 regional snack? I do, they're a very special treat because, you know, I think if you ate them every
01:43 day I think you'd be the size of a mouse, but I absolutely love them, so yes I do still eat them
01:47 and really enjoy them, brilliant. Probably only when I'm at the pub, or at Christmas, get them a lot
01:54 of Christmas, that's about it. I used to eat them, don't eat them anymore, when I did eat them, yeah
02:00 they were nice, crunchy, salty, good with beer, good snack. Yeah I've tried it before, it's not a snack
02:08 that I particularly have or will buy, yeah it's all right, yeah. We've never tried pork spratchings
02:16 and we don't want to either, no no, we're vegetarian. Have you ever tried pork scratchings? I haven't, no.
02:23 Yes please.
02:25 A bit tough.
02:31 It's all right to be fair, quite nice. Do you think you'd try them again? Don't think so. For better or worse,
02:41 pork scratchings possess a strong history here, tied closely to the region's economic and cultural
02:46 development, arising from habits of frugality and resourcefulness, since becoming a beloved part of
02:52 the region's culinary identity. In many ways it could be said their enduring popularity pays
02:58 testament to the resilience, adaptability and character of people here in the West Midlands.