The February 1 Edition​on January 31, 2025 at 6:00 pm

The problem with processed meats | A music festival success story | Rachel Griffiths on death, money & politics

​The problem with processed meats | A music festival success story | Rachel Griffiths on death, money & politics   

I remember the day my husband and I walked into the Ferry Building in San Francisco and he saw a shop that billed itself as selling Tasty Salted Pig Parts. It was like the place had been calling him, an ardent lover of, well, ham, bacon, prosciutto, salami … all the tasty, salty, pig parts. Such a fan, in fact, that he loves quoting a scene from The Simpsons, in which Homer laughs dismissively when his daughter tells him that bacon, ham and pork chops all come from the same animal. “Yeah, right, Lisa,” Homer says, incredulously. “A wonderful, magical animal.”
That’s the nub of the problem Lucie Morris-Marr identifies in today’s cover story: processed meats are so damn delicious. That fact alone helps explain why so many of us turn a blind eye to the multiple health warnings around eating too much of them. Morris-Marr didn’t think that she’d overconsumed bacon et al. Yet after being diagnosed with stage-four bowel cancer, she re-examined both her consumption levels and the medical literature on its implications. Suffice to say, I’ll be getting my husband to read her findings.
– Editor, Katrina Strickland