You may think it is a bit strange for a Prime Minister to be telling the people in his country that they should be eating a certain meat but in Cambodia, this is exactly what is happening. The reason why Hun Sen has had to make this request to his people is because there are less people eating pork now. Pork was once a favoured ingredient in meals with the Khmer people and they have no moral grounds on which to be shunning this meat. But people are scared of ‘blue ear pig disease’ and this is why they are now deciding to stay away from pork.
Blue ear pig disease was discovered back in 1991 and since then it has been responsible for epidemics across Asia. And one of the places where they seem to have suffered really badly with this has been Cambodia and in particular this year has been bad. The virus attacks pigs’ lungs and it spreads really fast among whole herds at a time wiping them out completely. Although there have been claims that it is highly unlikely that the disease could be passed from pig to human, it is no surprise that people are still very worried. It is this fear that is turning people off eating pork in places like Cambodia. But it is not just Cambodia where the disease is causing the death of herds of pigs; there have been 50,000 pigs killed already in Vietnam.
But the people of Cambodia are being urged to start eating pork again and not to be afraid to eat it by their Prime Minister. He insists that so long as they cook it properly there is need to worry. Recently the government has banned the import of pigs into the country until they are sure they have got the problem under control. But it might be a while before things get back to the way they were because Cambodia relies heavily on neighbouring countries for its supply of pork.
When it comes to people’s favourite food, one thing that is always near the top of the list is pork. The popularity of this meat amongst people has meant that demand is always high for things such as pork recipes. Irrespective of the pork meals you deem as your favourite, it is always good to know how to prepare roast pork.