Perhaps one of the greatest skills a man can learn in Cuba is how to kill (or as peasants used to say, sacrifice) a pig without cruelty or suffering on the part of the pig. When I was growing up in Marion, Kansas, my father’s ability to kill a pig in the back yard without one squeal astonished local farmers (not to mention our in-town neighbors). He learned this from his dad in Pinar del Río. You can imagine my surprise then when my Uncle Tiki told me that nobody could sacrifice a pig as harmlessly as Domingo, affectionately nicknamed “Mingo”. He showed himself true to the task—which was double since, unlike Kansas swine, Cuban pigs like this one have a tough outer hide that has to be taken off after death with hot water, a hoe and then a scrub brush. In these pictures, Mingo shows everyone how it’s done. DECEMBER 1996.
