Have we reached Peak Pork?

Various

"Big game fever is reaching a fever pitch as the  fevered rivalry between Springfield U. and Springfield A&M spreads like wildfever. This is writing? In preparation for the big game, Springfield Stadium has caught additional seating capacity fever." 

- Kent Brockman, Faith Off (BABF06)

Peak oil? Peak beard? Peak practice? Is peak pork next on the peak menu? This is writing?!

As I sat reflecting on The Guardian's recent article on the popularity of facial hair while rubbing the stubble on my chin, a thought sprung to my mind: with so much pulled pork and so many baby back ribs on the menu's of eateries across the capital, have we reached the pinnacle of pork's popularity?

Everyone, it seems, has leapt on the pork bandwagon. A Google search reveals 1.6m hits for 'pulled pork London' and even high street sandwich shops are offering a soggy, wet, tasteless imitation of BBQ pulled pork.

Perhaps, as The Guardian suggests with beards, we should ask the gay community their feelings on pork? After all, this is 'the group any trendwatcher will look to if they want to know what the mainstream will be doing in a few years' time'. But a quick search on Fantastic Man (again, recommended by The Guardian) shows articles on Surinamese food, burritos, rice crackers, and unbreakable pepper mills - hardly cutting edge.

As with investments, food fashion surely goes through bubbles, spurred on no doubt by those speculators who invest early on and focus their efforts on artificially inflating the price. Yesterday Thai food, today pork, tomorrow raw carrot cut in to wheels. And as with all bubbles, the crash or downturn simply shows a regression to the mean. With a surge in popularity comes an increase in investment and an increase in offerings - generally an increase in inferior offerings - then once a fast food chain runs out the McPulled Pork Supreme the whole thing comes crashing down like a house of cards. 

A pork market crash will see the 'dead meat' trimmed from the carcass. Yes, pork will be harder to find, but what is left will be the best quality product, increasing the average succulence, tenderness, and all-round tastiness of the pork on the high street. It's no surprise then that last month saw Bodean's celebrate their 10th birthday, with me visiting twice and also hurling half an EAT BBQ pulled pork sandwich in to a bin on Oxford High Street.

As that womanising, meat-headed, football pundit Andy Gray would probably say: form is temporary, class is permanent.