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Big Pig, Little Pig: A Tale of Two Pigs in France
When Jacqueline moves to south-west France with her husband, she embraces rural village life and buys two pigs to rear for slaughter. But as she gets to know the animals better, her English sentimentality threatens to get in the way and she begins to wonder if she can actually bring herself to kill them. This is a memoir about that fateful decision, but it's also about the ethics of meat eating in the modern age, and whether we should know, respect and even love the animals we eat. At its heart, this book is a love story, exploring the increasing attachment of the author for her particular pigs, and celebrating the enduring closeness of humans and pigs over the centuries.
- GenresNonfictionMemoirAnimals
320 pages, Hardcover
Published August 22, 2017
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December 31, 2022This is the everyday story of a British couple living in France who decide to get a couple of piglets to feed them up for a year, slaughter them and then turn them into a variety of tasty pork products .
Perhaps you have also heard that if you want to eat an animal, it is best not to give it a name, so when from the first the piglets become big pig and little pig I assumed that the ending of the story was open ended, but then in a moment of foolishness I read a couple of reviews, I will attempt to be as cautious as possible in my wording jut to preserve the possibility of the piglets either growing up to be sausages and hams or to be gigantic beasts, the terror of south-west France, running freely, eating everything.
Part of the book is the story of getting the pigs, setting up a grazing spot, moving them on when they got bigger and using them to clear land and eat up excess fruit and vegetables, buying knives and other equipment from a well known internet retailer. This is all interesting enough.
Much of the book is padded out by the author research in to Georgian performing pigs, which I feel with some effort, I could appreciate - you know the leisure economy of eighteenth century Britain, the age old question of what shall we do tonight when you find yourself in the 1780s of an evening, but possibly I wasn't in the mood. This left me with the feeling that the book had been fattened up. Inside was a book about half the size just about the two pigs eating courgette mash .
Round the edges of both parts of the book, the fat to the bone and meat, was the year in Provence stuff, the details of daily life and the sense of the wider countryside, La France profonde. Here revealed to be hollow mostly inhabited by elderly but spry women as well Dutch and British expatriates.
As it happened my sister found this book while visiting her parents-in-law in a bus stop shelter converted into a book exchange - which is very nice, but the implication is that the bus doesn't stop in that village any more, the hollowing out of the countryside is a process you can enjoy in almost any country that you might happen to find yourself in I guess.
And just like Yallop and her partner play at being smallholders, but live in the French South-west because they earn money through writing and thanks to the internet they can do that anywhere, the meta level is that I read about their adventure, so we can experience the lives of our ancestors as leisure.
The pig are handsome beasts with black hair filling me with thoughts of Asterix and the pig in the Milan Kundera novel kept by a village mayor instead of a dog. The elephant in the book is Brexit - this was published in 2017, there's no sense of whether there life might have been sustainable or not, though they were already thinking of returning to Britain with out the pigs.
I mentioned A year in Provence as it is my point of reference, in that book Provence was the reward for the winners in Thatcher's Britain; it was sunny and expansive, the wine flowed, friends flocked round, foreigners were comical and gave France it's curious charm. This is a fair bit darker, or maybe mature, there is more awareness, perhaps that is the difference between the south-east and the south-west of France, or the difference in time, the personalities of the authors or any combination of these.
This was a nice book to inspire my day dreams and memories, of my mother shaving the pork joint on a Sunday so the crackling might be hair free, or my cousin telling me that even his cap got greasy and fatty the day he helped out butchering the pig that his father had a share in. But rarely for this year, this is not a book I'd recommend, too much stuffing and filler for me and not enough story, while the filler didn't sing and justify its place.
Anyway, goodbye big pig, farewell little pig.
Perhaps you have also heard that if you want to eat an animal, it is best not to give it a name, so when from the first the piglets become big pig and little pig I assumed that the ending of the story was open ended, but then in a moment of foolishness I read a couple of reviews, I will attempt to be as cautious as possible in my wording jut to preserve the possibility of the piglets either growing up to be sausages and hams or to be gigantic beasts, the terror of south-west France, running freely, eating everything.
Part of the book is the story of getting the pigs, setting up a grazing spot, moving them on when they got bigger and using them to clear land and eat up excess fruit and vegetables, buying knives and other equipment from a well known internet retailer. This is all interesting enough.
Much of the book is padded out by the author research in to Georgian performing pigs, which I feel with some effort, I could appreciate - you know the leisure economy of eighteenth century Britain, the age old question of what shall we do tonight when you find yourself in the 1780s of an evening, but possibly I wasn't in the mood. This left me with the feeling that the book had been fattened up. Inside was a book about half the size just about the two pigs eating courgette mash .
Round the edges of both parts of the book, the fat to the bone and meat, was the year in Provence stuff, the details of daily life and the sense of the wider countryside, La France profonde. Here revealed to be hollow mostly inhabited by elderly but spry women as well Dutch and British expatriates.
As it happened my sister found this book while visiting her parents-in-law in a bus stop shelter converted into a book exchange - which is very nice, but the implication is that the bus doesn't stop in that village any more, the hollowing out of the countryside is a process you can enjoy in almost any country that you might happen to find yourself in I guess.
And just like Yallop and her partner play at being smallholders, but live in the French South-west because they earn money through writing and thanks to the internet they can do that anywhere, the meta level is that I read about their adventure, so we can experience the lives of our ancestors as leisure.
The pig are handsome beasts with black hair filling me with thoughts of Asterix and the pig in the Milan Kundera novel kept by a village mayor instead of a dog. The elephant in the book is Brexit - this was published in 2017, there's no sense of whether there life might have been sustainable or not, though they were already thinking of returning to Britain with out the pigs.
I mentioned A year in Provence as it is my point of reference, in that book Provence was the reward for the winners in Thatcher's Britain; it was sunny and expansive, the wine flowed, friends flocked round, foreigners were comical and gave France it's curious charm. This is a fair bit darker, or maybe mature, there is more awareness, perhaps that is the difference between the south-east and the south-west of France, or the difference in time, the personalities of the authors or any combination of these.
This was a nice book to inspire my day dreams and memories, of my mother shaving the pork joint on a Sunday so the crackling might be hair free, or my cousin telling me that even his cap got greasy and fatty the day he helped out butchering the pig that his father had a share in. But rarely for this year, this is not a book I'd recommend, too much stuffing and filler for me and not enough story, while the filler didn't sing and justify its place.
Anyway, goodbye big pig, farewell little pig.
July 12, 2017
Sick tale of smug, middle class Brits trying to fit in with the French by raising and killing two pigs. If you like reading about the agonising decision to slaughter two animals whose trust you have gained, making a complete hash of the first slaughter, and then reverting to the professionals for the second, this is the book for you.
Shame on the BBC for airing this nauseating drivel.
Shame on the BBC for airing this nauseating drivel.
April 16, 2025
Too late in the day to bike to the library, I reached for this book out of dire necessity to entertain myself. I dug in my plastic box of books for the only thing I hadn't read yet, something Dan left behind when he left my room a couple of weeks before. Unexcited I began to read, anticipating a romanticised account of two British immigrants living idyllically with pigs in France. Yet to my disbelief, it turned out to be a collection of the author's memories raising two pigs for the first time; entwined with a story of a performing pig, and an abundance of details about French meat culture through history. The author is non-pretentious, honest with her mistakes, fears and doubts, and her book is an exercise about ethics and values, but also about trying something completely new and the constraints that came with it. Now I am happy Dan left this book behind and that the library had closed its doors for the day.
June 23, 2018
Kurz gesagt: Leider gefiel mir dieses Buch überhaupt nicht. Ich hatte mich zwar auf ein erzählendes Sachbuch eingestellt, aber dass dieses Buch sich so dermaßen in die Länge zieht, hätte ich nicht gedacht. Der Grundgedanke, ob man Tiere schlachten kann, die man liebt, ist spannend, und ich bin der festen Überzeugung, dass ich es nicht könnte, doch Jaqueline Yallop und ihr Mann sind da anscheinend härter im Nehmen. Während zu Beginn des Buchs noch gestaunt wird, was für schöne Tiere Schweine doch sind und historische Gegebenheiten mit Forschung und Charakterstudien zusammentreffen, hätte ich mir doch mehr erhofft. Die „harten Fakten“ über Schweine füllen derweil auch den Großteil des Buches und der Leser bekommt stets vor Augen geführt, wie intelligent und treuherzig Schweine doch sind, um dann gegen Ende entsetzt und enttäuscht zu sein über die Wahl, die Yallop und ihr Mann treffen. Kurz vor der Schlachtung tanzt das zu tötende Schwein noch im Heu und freut sich seines Lebens, und man hofft auf einen humanen Moment der Einsicht, doch die Autorin zeigt kaum eine Regung und bleibt hart. Zur Veranschaulichung werden dann noch Fotos von einer strahlenden Yallop mit einer Würstchenkette in der Hand gezeigt. Den Schlachtungs- und Zerlegungsvorgang bekommt der Leser auch in seiner Ganzheit erläutert, Leser mit schwachem Magen sollten hier vielleicht einige Seiten überblättern.
"Wir waren gründlich und pragmatisch. Es wirkt alles überschaubar. Gefühle spielen dabei scheinbar überhaupt keine Rolle. Wie schwer kann es denn schon sein, ein Schwein zu töten?"
Kurz und knapp: Das Genre „erzählendes Sachbuch“ ist mir nicht fremd, fremd war jedoch diese komplette Abwesenheit von Einfühlvermögen. Jaqueline Yallop baut zwar ein Verhältnis zu ihren Schweinen auf und bemerkt auch ihre unterschiedlichen Persönlichkeiten, dennoch führt auch ihre ausgiebige Recherche über Schweine, ihre Intelligenz und ihre Zutraulichkeit nicht dazu, dass sie sich von ihren Gefühlen mitreißen lässt. Zudem werden die Schweine zu vielen Gelegenheiten nur als „Schlachtkörper“ gesehen, was im starken Kontrast zu ausführlichen Beschreibung zu der Schönheit der Tiere und der Ähnlichkeit zum Menschen steht. „Big Pig, Little Pig“ (im Übrigen die Namen der Schweine) kann ich leider überhaupt nicht weiterempfehlen, da es mir zu kaltblütig, zu „unmenschlich“ war.
"Wir waren gründlich und pragmatisch. Es wirkt alles überschaubar. Gefühle spielen dabei scheinbar überhaupt keine Rolle. Wie schwer kann es denn schon sein, ein Schwein zu töten?"
Kurz und knapp: Das Genre „erzählendes Sachbuch“ ist mir nicht fremd, fremd war jedoch diese komplette Abwesenheit von Einfühlvermögen. Jaqueline Yallop baut zwar ein Verhältnis zu ihren Schweinen auf und bemerkt auch ihre unterschiedlichen Persönlichkeiten, dennoch führt auch ihre ausgiebige Recherche über Schweine, ihre Intelligenz und ihre Zutraulichkeit nicht dazu, dass sie sich von ihren Gefühlen mitreißen lässt. Zudem werden die Schweine zu vielen Gelegenheiten nur als „Schlachtkörper“ gesehen, was im starken Kontrast zu ausführlichen Beschreibung zu der Schönheit der Tiere und der Ähnlichkeit zum Menschen steht. „Big Pig, Little Pig“ (im Übrigen die Namen der Schweine) kann ich leider überhaupt nicht weiterempfehlen, da es mir zu kaltblütig, zu „unmenschlich“ war.
October 11, 2017
Big Pig, Little Pig is the non fiction story about author Jacqueline Yallop and her husband. Living in a small rural holding in France, they decide to get two pigs to be raised for meet. This is the story of their year together, where they get to know and love the two animals in their care.
I enjoyed reading about the relationship and could see how easy it would be to bond with these intelligent animals. I would find it hard to think of killing and eating my own animals, and if I think about it too hard, it makes me want to turn vegetarian straight away. So I understand the author being conflicted about thinking about killing their pigs.
I enjoyed reading about the relationship and could see how easy it would be to bond with these intelligent animals. I would find it hard to think of killing and eating my own animals, and if I think about it too hard, it makes me want to turn vegetarian straight away. So I understand the author being conflicted about thinking about killing their pigs.
September 15, 2017
I really enjoyed this, it was a meditative read. Not much happens. Perhaps that's part of the attraction somehow.
November 14, 2018
This read like an instructional on living in rural France and raising pigs for slaughter and finished with a step by step guide on how to slaughter one pig and then cop out and send the other to the abattoir all while pretending that the unlucky abattoir pig didn’t seem scared to be in a lonely metal cage.
Some of it was interesting but I certainly wouldn’t recommend it as a good read, not unless you are wanting a manual that meets the opening sentence’s criteria.
A really odd choice to be on a book group selection sheet, I feel.
Some of it was interesting but I certainly wouldn’t recommend it as a good read, not unless you are wanting a manual that meets the opening sentence’s criteria.
A really odd choice to be on a book group selection sheet, I feel.
August 4, 2017
Big Pig Little Pig
By Jacqueline Yallop
The Author, Jacqueline, and her husband Ed, acquire two pigs from a local pig farmer, and rear them organically, with a mind to slaughter them at the end of the year. They live in a beautiful rural location in France.
The story was carefully written, and full of the wonders of nature. Though I couldn't help feeling uneasy throughout the book, thinking, will they? won't they? - they do, and it feels as brutal as I imaged it would, especially for little pig, who ended his life at the local abattoir.
Jacqueline and Ed started to enjoy the meat as soon as it was dissected. I think to myself, could I eat something I have lovingly fed for a year? - It reminds me of a tale my mother told me. She was just a child and her father kept just one chicken, with a view to having a nice meal at Christmas - they were very poor - chicken was fattened up and when the time came, grandad carried out the deed with a sad heart and nan prepared the chicken. Pieces of chicken were loving placed on plates and did they eat it? No! They all burst into tears! They couldn't eat chicken in the end. Lesson was learned. Never eat anything you lovingly feed!
Back to the story, and the author is quite clearly very talented. She's a very creative writer. Jacqueline relives the tale of The Learned Pig - a pig from the 18th century, who can spell names and add up, and catches London by storm. The pig is owned by a Samuel Bisset, who has an untimely and cruel death. The pig drops off the scene for a while and then is picked up again by a chap named Nicholson. The Learned Pig travels the length and breadth of the Country, and even manages a stint in France!
As I say, Jacqueline is a very talented writer, and I enjoyed her storytelling of both past and present day pigs, but overall my enjoyment was marred by the death of these two loveable pigs.
By Jacqueline Yallop
The Author, Jacqueline, and her husband Ed, acquire two pigs from a local pig farmer, and rear them organically, with a mind to slaughter them at the end of the year. They live in a beautiful rural location in France.
The story was carefully written, and full of the wonders of nature. Though I couldn't help feeling uneasy throughout the book, thinking, will they? won't they? - they do, and it feels as brutal as I imaged it would, especially for little pig, who ended his life at the local abattoir.
Jacqueline and Ed started to enjoy the meat as soon as it was dissected. I think to myself, could I eat something I have lovingly fed for a year? - It reminds me of a tale my mother told me. She was just a child and her father kept just one chicken, with a view to having a nice meal at Christmas - they were very poor - chicken was fattened up and when the time came, grandad carried out the deed with a sad heart and nan prepared the chicken. Pieces of chicken were loving placed on plates and did they eat it? No! They all burst into tears! They couldn't eat chicken in the end. Lesson was learned. Never eat anything you lovingly feed!
Back to the story, and the author is quite clearly very talented. She's a very creative writer. Jacqueline relives the tale of The Learned Pig - a pig from the 18th century, who can spell names and add up, and catches London by storm. The pig is owned by a Samuel Bisset, who has an untimely and cruel death. The pig drops off the scene for a while and then is picked up again by a chap named Nicholson. The Learned Pig travels the length and breadth of the Country, and even manages a stint in France!
As I say, Jacqueline is a very talented writer, and I enjoyed her storytelling of both past and present day pigs, but overall my enjoyment was marred by the death of these two loveable pigs.
August 16, 2018
De schrijfster onderzoekt of ze als leek/stadsmens twee varkens kan grootbrengen (die grappig, echte persoonlijkheden en aanhankelijk blijken te zijn ) en ze na een jaar zelf kan slachten en verwerken tot pasteitjes.
(Let op spoiler alert) Het antwoord is. Yes she can. Of beter: zij kunnen het. Partner in crime is haar vriend Ed. Ik geef het nu snel weg maar de schrijfster laat je het hele boek lang in spanning. Ik heb lang gedacht dat ze haar groot en klein varken toch niet ging opeten. Maar niets was minder waar. De onhandige slachtpartij wordt uitvoerig beschreven. De klungeligheid van hun handelingen niet verzwegen. Het bleek ook een immense klus. En dan verwerken ze nog niet eens alles van het varken zoals men ooit wel placht te doen op het platteland. Het tragische dumpen van de kop van hun vriendje in een publieke afvalcontainer was voor mij wel een triest dieptepunt.
Maar wat weegt uiteindelijk zwaarder. Het eten van heerlijk zelf opgekweekt vlees of het gemis van twee vrolijk knorrende zwarte varkensvriendjes. Dat blijft een vraag waarop de schrijfster het antwoord moeilijk kan geven: De pasteitjes en worstjes zijn overheerlijk. Het gemis van de amusant knorrende vrienden vindt ze een andere vraag. Het verslag is doorspekt( haha) met veel wederwaardigheden over de (culturele) geschiedenis van de relatie mens varken door de eeuwen heen. Veel mooie natuurbeschrijvingen. De teloorgang van het oude kleinschaliger boerenleven wordt beschreven zonder hier te sentimenteel over te doen. De schrijfster heeft veel oog voor de drastische invloed hiervan op het plattelandsleven, de dorpen en de natuur.
(Let op spoiler alert) Het antwoord is. Yes she can. Of beter: zij kunnen het. Partner in crime is haar vriend Ed. Ik geef het nu snel weg maar de schrijfster laat je het hele boek lang in spanning. Ik heb lang gedacht dat ze haar groot en klein varken toch niet ging opeten. Maar niets was minder waar. De onhandige slachtpartij wordt uitvoerig beschreven. De klungeligheid van hun handelingen niet verzwegen. Het bleek ook een immense klus. En dan verwerken ze nog niet eens alles van het varken zoals men ooit wel placht te doen op het platteland. Het tragische dumpen van de kop van hun vriendje in een publieke afvalcontainer was voor mij wel een triest dieptepunt.
Maar wat weegt uiteindelijk zwaarder. Het eten van heerlijk zelf opgekweekt vlees of het gemis van twee vrolijk knorrende zwarte varkensvriendjes. Dat blijft een vraag waarop de schrijfster het antwoord moeilijk kan geven: De pasteitjes en worstjes zijn overheerlijk. Het gemis van de amusant knorrende vrienden vindt ze een andere vraag. Het verslag is doorspekt( haha) met veel wederwaardigheden over de (culturele) geschiedenis van de relatie mens varken door de eeuwen heen. Veel mooie natuurbeschrijvingen. De teloorgang van het oude kleinschaliger boerenleven wordt beschreven zonder hier te sentimenteel over te doen. De schrijfster heeft veel oog voor de drastische invloed hiervan op het plattelandsleven, de dorpen en de natuur.
May 28, 2017
Thank you Goodreads for sending me this book. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is set in France, a country I love to visit. The description of the countryside are vivid and real. The author and her husband have moved to rural France. They buy two pigs and the subsequent story is the rearing of the pigs, the relationship between the animals and the family and the dilemma that occurs when it is time for the pigs to be killed/slaughtered. A great read, revealing how relationships develop between people and animals and how important these are.
July 7, 2017
wow French pigs that went wee wee wee all the way home to a British couple in French don't know if it true story or someone just writing porkies, purchased them just to fatten up and kill and that's what they did a few crocodile tears along the way but they had there bacon in the end, got this book as a giveaway so not out pocket but would of been a rash er move to have purchased it, don't waste your money just go and buy yourself a bacon sandwich
July 6, 2017
With beautiful and poetic prose, Yallop takes on a heartfelt journey into life in La France Profonde while exploring the intrinsic connections we create with other people, the land, and, most importantly, animals.
Disclaimer: The publisher sent me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Disclaimer: The publisher sent me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
May 24, 2018
"But Big Pig and Little Pig, my two life-affirming pigs - would I prefer the meat on the plate, the fat, juicy pork-pie, or would I rather have them careering towards me up the slope in the woods?
Now that's a different question altogether."
Is your taste worth the life of an animal?
Now that's the real question in my view.
Now that's a different question altogether."
Is your taste worth the life of an animal?
Now that's the real question in my view.
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July 12, 2017Son won in Goodreads Giveaways - not read, passed on to another reader.
August 4, 2017
ugh what kind of sociopath writes about killing and consuming the flesh of an animal they've grown to love, it's sickening, if this was about dogs there would be outrage
August 26, 2017
Interesting read, I must confess I skipped the historical bits about performing pigs (yawn), I wanted to find out if the pigs would die. And actually, the author only feels all this angst about the ethics of killing because she is not hungry. She doesn't need to slaughter the pigs for food, she can go to the shops.
October 22, 2018
An interesting book about the author and her husband raising two pigs in rural France in the traditional manner. It's about our relationship to the things we eat and the respect we have lost for the creatures we feast on. There is some great history about raising pigs and about "smart" pigs which were apparently a thing on the 19th Century entertainment circuit. Very thoughtfully written.
January 28, 2019
I had expected this to be in the 'Year in Provence' mode (which doesn't have to be bad - Beer in the Loire by Tommy Barnes was excellent) but this is something else. It reminded me of H is for Hawk in its exploration of the relationship between humans and animals but with additional reflections on the ethics of rearing meat for the table. The history was also fascinating. A surprise and delight.
March 19, 2020
I very much enjoyed bits of this book, but the constant fixation on killing the pigs, even though the book was about keeping pigs to kill and eat, was a bit much for me. I appreciate that it occupied the author's thoughts a lot, but I just didn't want reminding every few pages about the demise of the pigs.
July 21, 2017
I found this book a bit rambling but I did enjoy the story of the pigs. I was hoping all the way through that there'd be a happy ending for the pigs so the conclusion of the book wasn't very enjoyable for me.
March 25, 2023
Als vegetarier, geweldig uit mijn comfortzone. Moedig wel om je eigen dieren te kweken voor vlees. Allemaal ok, bewonderswaardig. Alleen het stuk van Klein varken brak mijn hart in duizend stukjes.. blijkbaar kunnen we het toch niet zo goed dat doden..
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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October 6, 2017Not such a rural idyll for the two pigs!
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November 18, 2017As a vegetarian it probably wasn't the best book to read. However the idea of raising pigs traditionally seemed interesting. I found the book a little slow and dull in places but it was an ok read, I enjoyed the snippets of historical stories.
I won this on goodreads giveaways.
I won this on goodreads giveaways.
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December 15, 2017304.27 Y191 2017
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