Tucked away in the corner of our office is a neat piece of culinary and political history.
Forty-five years ago, the governor of North Carolina declared our state to be the “Pig Pickin’ Capital of the World.”
Gov. Bob Scott’s signature is still firm and clear on the proclamation. It’s from 1972, toward the end of his four-year term.
The writing is even better.
“Whereas,” it says, “nothing could be finer on a crisp autumn day in North Carolina than the aroma of a lean porker roasting over a hot bed of coals in preparation for a feast called a pig pickin’ – unless it be the delicious taste of the roasted suckling meat.”
He goes on.
“Pig pickin’ is synonymous with good eating and good eating is synonymous with southern hospitality – and the southern hospitality of North Carolina has no peer,” the proclamation says.
Scott, a former dairy farmer himself, wanted suitable recognition for both pig pickin’s and “the creature that makes them possible, the pig.”
Scott proclaimed North Carolina to be the PIG PICKIN’ CAPITAL OF THE WORLD.
And he called for “all dedicated pig pickers to defend this exalted culinary title to the last bite.”
