I'm eating a whole pig. Here's why.

Ever think about how that pork loin got into its neat little plastic wrapper? Ever wonder what the heck you do with a Boston Butt? Ever eat a pig's ear?

Here's my mission: to eat a whole pig, from stem to stern. But this isn't just about forks and sauces. I'm out to find out where my pigs come from, learn to cook everything from jowls to the perfect pork chop; think about why we eat (or don't eat) certain parts; meet the people who love—and love to eat—pigs; and maybe learn a thing or two about an animal that's been part of our diet since, well, nearly the dawn of man being able to catch and spit-roast the little buggers.

Broken into 20 (or so) installments, I'll eat one part each week, including a recipe, facts and inevitable mayhem that ensues. I'm ready to eat--nose to tail--leaving nothing but the oink behind.

About Me

Heather Irwin is a food, wine and travel writer living in Santa Rosa , California . She eats and drinks as much as humanly possible. She resents having to wash pans, colanders and vegetables, preferring to have her meals brought to her by attentive wait staff whenever possible. This, however, is about to change.

Heather is a frequent contributor to The North Bay Bohemian and WineCountry magazine. She has written for Portland Monthly, Hotwired, The St. Louis Business Journal and various other publications she prefers to forget, in addition to having once worked at The New York Times. She is also the former Creative Director for Chickclick, EstroNet and many other dot.com publications that no longer exist. Heather has Big Plans for the future and will entertain all reasonable offers for, oh, just about anything.

Top Five Favorite Cookbooks

"If I Be You…" A tribute to Gisella Anna Jurasek Wood: This is a family cookbook that my grandmother made a few years ago with recipes from just about everyone even remotely related to us. It includes everything from enchiladas and skillet cookies to my great-grandma's recipes for Polachinka, Spaetzle and Goulash. Whenever I ask my mom or grandma how to make something, they say, “Look in the cookbook!” It's great to have all my favorites in one place.

The Joy of Cooking: My starting point standard. I always look here first for a rough idea of how to make something classic, then fiddle with it from there. I will always remember making a yellow cake from scratch with butter cream frosting for my son's fourth birthday. I shaped it into the Pyramids of Giza. It was cool and tasted amazing.

Ruth Reichl, Garlic and Sapphires: I love Ruth, because she's so normal. Her memoir of working as food critic for the New York Times is filled with recipes, many of which are insanely simple and just plain tasty. As someone who eats out A LOT, I really like just eating simply (often just cereal, bagels and chicken) when I'm at home. Her recipes always hit the spot.

Jamie Oliver, The Naked Chef Takes Off: Anthony Bourdain once said that Jamie Oliver is neither naked, nor a chef. As much as I love Tony, he can be a real pompous ass sometimes. I love Oliver's approach to cooking—mostly simple, honest eating. His writing is idiosyncratic, but I enjoy it. And, well, he's just hot.

Epicurious.com/Foodnetwork.com: Okay, this isn't really fair, but these are honestly the two places I go first for recipes. I've got a million cookbooks, but I love being able to just look up a quick ingredient and then see what other people think. The ratings are usually dead-on and the suggestions for adding this, removing that, etc. are brilliant. I can't tell you how many silly little printouts I have messing up my kitchen counters.

Signature recipe?

I've got a few things I really like to make…that I think I do pretty darn well. Homemade meat sauce is one: I love simmering it for hours with lots of tomatoes, herbs, mushrooms, Italian sausage. I also love making really crappy curry (mostly a white sauce with curry powder and applesauce, for shame!) and things from my childhood like mashed potatoes and pork tenderloin with apples. But my very favorite thing in the whole word to eat, and cook are Palatschinken (what I call Polachinka). They're a sort of sweet Hungarian crepe. My favorite way to eat them is right out of the pan with a blob of sour cream, chopped walnuts and cinnamon sugar. Roll and eat. Heaven. My grandma still cooks these in big batches and freezes them for me. I love her.