'Lesser Beasts' explores our uneasy relationship with the humble pig

The humble pig has been with us for a long stretch of human history. But it's a frequently misunderstood animal — and an unloved one, despite everything that it's done for us.

Writer and historian Mark Essig has carved up that complicated history in his book "Lesser Beasts: A Snout to Tail History of the Humble Pig."

At first, this was a tremendous resource that the pigs provided. You had something that you very much didn't want around, which was garbage, and the pigs not only cleaned it up for you free of charge, but they also transformed it into a very delicious meat and fat that you could eat. But eventually, once what we call civilization got started, some of the more elite people who could afford to be more fastidious about what they ate began to turn against the pig... The pig was considered filthy and so it was consigned to those who couldn't afford to eat anything better.- Mark Essig on the early history of our relationship with the pig

Essig joined us from Asheville, North Carolina.

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This segment was produced by The Current's Howard Goldenthal.