Some Danes want pork to be mandatory

Thursday, December 5, 2013

In Denmark, where pork is the most consumed meat and pigs outnumber people two to one, the "meatball wars" (Danish meatballs are made with pork) have been making headlines this summer.
The issue was sparked by a story in the Danish tabloid Ekstra Bladet titled "Preschools ban pork." A survey of public institutions revealed that "at least 30" daycares had stopped serving pork to accommodate children from different religious backgrounds.   

A manager of one of the daycares told Ritzau news agency that they had stopped serving pork because meals are an important communal event and no child should be excluded or treated differently.

But the majority of Danish politicians, and a very vocal segment of the public, considers this religious pandering. NPR reports that, according to Jyllands-Posten (the newspaper that famously published inflammatory cartoons of Muhammad in 2005), members of Denmark's right-wing Danish People's Party went so far as to consider a pork quota, requiring that menus at public institutions contain at least 20 per cent pork.

The quota was voted down in municipal elections, but Denmark's prime minister has said kindergartens and hospitals must continue to serve pork dishes because "they are part of Danish culinary tradition." BP