Ever since the sizzling news about Chinese tariffs on pork dropped, we knew we'd have to do a Meat + Three episode about pork. This week's show features a deep dive into the tangled relationship between American soybeans and Chinese pork with help from Bettina Ring, Virginia's Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry, and Loren Puette of ChinaAg.

To build up our strength to tackle such a dense subject, we first visit our friends at Heritage Foods to learn their expert tips for making a next-level BLT with your summer tomato and lettuce bounty (hint: perfect bacon = perfect BLT).

Executive Director Caity Moseman Wadler gets to the bottom of the term "legislative pork" with help from Katy Keiffer of What Doesn't Kill You and Esther Trakinski, a Food/Adjunct Professor at NYU.

Finally, we look into the Fatback Pig Project, a group formed in 2013 that is helping put small-scale pig farmers back to work in Alabama.

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Our theme song is by Breakmaster Cylinder.

About the episode art: after making some delicious BLTs with the Heritage Foods team, we got creative with the leftover bacon! (And then ate it, of course.) Thanks to Patty Lee and Ben Tansel for their food styling expertise!

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