RENDERED 33: Heritage Pigs in Anjou
Pig Heil: Do French pigs vote far-right?
Last night, the prefect of Maine-et-Loire issued an order forbidding a demonstration in Chalonnes-sur-Loire scheduled for today, February 1 2025. This is the town that welcomed me to France, where I started my life, and where I was married. The demonstration was organized by an antifascist coalition to protest the presence of a certain pig farm at the town’s open-air market.
Les Blancs de l’Ouest (translation: The Whites of the West) is a pig farm based here in Anjou that specializes in raising a heritage pig breed, le porc blanc de l’Ouest (translation: white pig of the West). It is commonly called a “forgotten” or “little-known’ heritage pig breed. In reality, it was created by crossbreeding pig breeds from Normandy and Mayenne in 1958.
Why the protest? Les Blancs de l’Ouest is run by former members of a far-right hate group called the Alvarium. This group was known for its violent demonstrations, and was officially dissolved in 2021 by the Conseil d’État (the French judicial head)… but according to investigative journalists, their sympathizers have just taken their activities further underground.
Since their ties to the Alvarium were uncovered, there have been calls to boycott the business and eject them from local markets. In response, the owners of Les Blancs released a statement expressing their sincere regret that they are victims of a smear campaign for “past commitments that have since been resolved.” They’re not political–they’re just wittle bitty pig farmers trying to earn a living!
This local explosion of food and politics is difficult to divorce from its context: pork has become something of a modern-day cultural battleground here in France.
French conservatives want us to believe that “true” French people eat pork.
The recently-deceased Jean-Marie Le Pen, father of the contemporary French far-right movement, lamented the decrease in pork production and consumption, blaming it on “Muslim halal lobbyists.” His daughter, Presidential hopeful Marine Le Pen has also stated that Breton pork production has been undercut by foreign competition, calling it a guerre du porc.
Whether it comes to pork in school lunches, distributing pork-bone soup to the unhoused, or lamenting struggling French pig farms, pork has become a proxy for exclusion of religious minorities, and a litmus test for what it means to be “truly” French.
Cultivating a cultural nostalgia centered around food creates an idea of “Who WE are.” Inherent in that is the idea of “us” versus “them.” Under the pretext of wanting to promote local agriculture, a “traditional” diet and regional cuisine, the pork issue has become a dog-whistle for Islamophobia, anti-semitism, xenophobia and nationalism.
The Whites of the West are raising a pig breed that, according to the farmers’ union, is good for promoting local biodiversity, local ecosystems and local economy. It is also “a race in danger” and “threatened with extinction.” Their unfortunate name does no favors in creating distance from their misguided past, and the alarmist language about this pig breed eerily echoes white replacement theory rhetoric.
Just this week, French Prime Minister François Bayrou doubled down on fearmongering claims that France is being “submerged” by immigrants. (This particular word, “submersion,” is a favorite among French bigots.) According to PM Bayrou, beyond a certain proportion, immigrants’ contributions are outweighed by the fact that they make the country, its culture and way of life, “unrecognizable.” In reality, his comments speak to false delusions of cultural replacement: French immigration rates are among the lowest in western Europe, at 6.3 immigrants per 1000 citizens.
Tying food traditions to national heritage is far from new: it was done in the years following the French Revolution, in European nationalist movements of the 19th century, and by the Fascists in 1920’s Italy. Mussolini’s Italy valorized local food traditions and the virtues of rural life as a way to encourage a unified population to eat locally.
In the year of our Lord 2025, however, supporting local farmers who are good stewards of the land doesn’t have to come alongside a serving of white supremacy. Buy yourself a brown shirt and leave the pigs alone.
Hungry for longer essays? Check out these February essays from years past!
I’ve written before about local food here in Anjou, in the form of a savory pie called the gouline, a recently-created dish meant to evoke quality and local savoir-faire. In reality, it plays into a folksy PR campaign to appeal to rural gentrifiers. Check it out here.
February 2021
RENDERED 2: Fragolamammella (Strawberry Breasts)
Edible breasts as a Futurist response to misogyny in the time of Mussolini
February 2022
RENDERED 14: Champagne
Considering luxury, desire, and pleasure
February 2023
RENDERED 24: Salt (Sel de Guérande)
Getting Back to Basics
Bibliography
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