Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Nov 11, 2019 (II)

choi

(2) Lydia Mulvany, Going Whole Hog on a Hobby Farm.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/f ... on-department-store

Quote:

(a) "Some finance pros love getting their hands dirty on the farm. But what starts as a pastime can quickly become a multimillion-dollar passion project.

"During the week, [G (initial of the first name)] Chris Andersen [1938- ; MBA, Northwestern 1962, BS University of Colorado; a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)] runs his Manhattan investment banking firm, GC Andersen Partners LLC [1996- ], from behind a desk that's a replica of one owned by Lorenzo de' Medici [I can't find any description in the Web, much less a photo]. On the weekends, he heads to his farm in New Jersey, where he shovels out corn cobs and bruised watermelons to feed his herd of Mangalitsa hogs, an especially tasty breed of pig from Hungary.

"Andersen, 81, calls himself the Colonel Sanders [founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken] of the Mangalitsa. He started his farm more than a decade ago on a lark. It's since turned into a passion, one that's produced 4,000 pigs across seven farms in three states. He employs three full-time farmers and has even built a facility in Pennsylvania to produce charcuterie that that he sells under the American Mangalitsa brand.

"Unlike investment banking, the farms are unprofitable. Andersen estimates he's spent in the low seven figures each year for the last 10 years on them and is now at about break-even before capital expenditures. 'Being a farmer is a lot more complicated than most people realize,' he says.

"Although he may be doing it in a more expensive fashion than most, Andersen is part of a growing 'lifestyle farming' trend. It’s a hobby that wealthy Americans have been devoting nights and weekends to over the past few decades * * *

(b) "Lee Montgomery spends his days building foundations for shopping malls and houses in Southern California. But when he's done for the day, all he wants to do is farm his vineyard. He says he's the type that can't keep still, so he planted 8 acres of grapes—6,000 plants—which translates into a lot of walking for him. “Farming is very relaxing, like meditation and yoga. It's peaceful, fulfilling, and it's a good thing to fade into,' Montgomery says

(c) For Andersen, the pig farmer, the draw was more elemental. Formerly head of investment banking at Drexel Burnham Lambert [1935-1990; based in Manhattan], he's known for creating the first high-yield bond fund. But in 2007 he had his first taste of jamón ibérico de bellota in Spain and fell in love. The cured pork comes from a black pig that roams the oak forests of central and southwestern Spain and Portugal, feeding on a diet of acorns, olives, and chestnuts, among other things. The resulting ham is prized for its smooth marbling and melt-in-your-mouth texture.

Andersen wanted to bring some of the hogs home, but there were US government restrictions on imports. * * * So he found another curly-haired breed that's a close cousin—the Hungarian Mangalitsa, first bred in the 19th century and reserved for Habsburg royalty.

(e) "Americans can now import jamón ibérico from Spain, but the live pigs still can't be brought here.

Note:
(a) Lorenzo de' Medici
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorenzo_de%27_Medici
(1449 – 1492)
(b) elemental (adj):
"1 (b)(1) : of, relating to, or being the basic or essential constituent of something : FUNDAMENTAL  <elemental biological needs>
        (2) : SIMPLE, UNCOMPLICATED  <elemental food>"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/elemental
(c) The "high-yield bond" is a euphemism for junk bond.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-yield_debt

(d) jamón ibérico
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamón_ibérico
(from Black Iberian breed pigs; section 3 Commercial grading and labeling: The finest grade is called jamón ibérico de bellota)
(ii) Spanish-English dictionary:
* jamón (noun masculine; from Modern French [noun masculine] jambon ham): "ham (meat from the thigh of a hog cured for food)"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/jamón

The ham in Modern English is from Old English noun feminine hamm ham. Also the Spanish letter j is pronounced the same way as h in English.
* ibérico (adjective masculine; from Latin adjective masculine Hibēricus Iberian): "Iberian"

The Latin proper noun feminine Ibēria/Hibēria is from Ancient Greek proper noun feminine Ibēríā. In Modern English, it is Iberia.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ibérico
* bellota (noun feminine; from Arabic noun feminine ballūṭa oak, acorn)
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bellota
(iii) Black Iberian pig
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Iberian_pig
("exhibits a good appetite and propensity to obesity, including a great capacity to accumulate intramuscular and epidermal fat. The high intramuscular fat is what produces the typical marbling; this, together with traditional feeding based on acorns, is what makes its ham taste so special")
(iv) For Mangalitsa, see Mangalica
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mangalica

Wiktionary says Mangalica us a Hunfarian word, and that both Mangalitsa and Mangalitza are English (words).

(e) "Americans can now import jamón ibérico from Spain, but the live pigs still can't be brought here."
(i) Generally speaking:
Alyn Kiel, USDA Encourages Summer Travelers to Protect American Agriculture by Not Packing a Pest. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), US Department of Agriculture, Feb 21, 2017 (blog)
https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/ ... culture-not-packing
("invasive pests can hitchhike on fruits, vegetables, meats, processed foods, plants, and handicraft items")
(ii) the first clause: "Americans can now import jamón ibérico from Spain"
(A) Why is Spanish ham forbidden in the US?
https://www.quora.com/Why-is-Spanish-ham-forbidden-in-the-US
(Josh Velson answered Feb 22 2016: "It is illegal to buy it in Spain and import it as a private citizen for personal consumption because imported meat must meet American health standards, so only meat processed by facilities authorized by the USDA can export Spanish ham to the United States"_
(B) Importing Products. Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), USDA, undated
https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/po ... /importing-products
says what processors in what countries can import what into US. For Spain, the list does not really say jamon Iberico, only "Not Heat Treated - Shelf Stable   RTE" (ready-to-eat).
(C) US Allows Iberian Ham on Menus. The Guardian, June 26, 2005.

However, the USDA-authorized plants /processor in Spain did not immediately imported into US until two years later. See next.
(D) Jerry Shriver, Spain Cures US Desire for Iberico Ham. USA Today, Dec 14, 2007
https://www.jamon.com/press/articles.html?id=121
("Embutidos Fermín of Spain, the sole producer authorized to export to the USA, has shipped about 300 of the more common Jamón Ibérico hams here, which they will sell in gourmet stores and online at tienda.com for about $50 a pound. The Bellota hams, made from acorn-fed pigs, are due this summer and will sell for about $100 a pound")
reported the first import of jamon iberico into US")
(E) Simon Majumdar, Jamon Iberico: 5 Things You Didn't Know. Fox News, Jan 26, 2010
https://www.foxnews.com/food-dri ... ings-you-didnt-know
("1. Spain is the largest producer and consumer of ham in the world[:] Spain produces a staggering 40 million hams a year and few meals pass by without at least a few slivers of jamon finding its way onto the table. However, jamon made from pure iberico pigs comprises only around 5% of that amount. * * * 5. Importing jamon iberico into the United States was illegal until 2005[:] None of the Spanish slaughterhouses met with FDA [sic; probably USDA] approval * * * Since that time only one producer has been able to meet the import requirements, Embuditos Fermin from the Salamanca region. * * * Earlier in 2009, a further restriction was placed on the import of jamon iberico stipulating that the black hooves, for which the hams are famous, be removed")

For the last sentence in the preceding quotation, see next.
(F) US Orders Hoofs off Spanish Jamón, Plans Tariff. Associated Press, Mar 19, 2009
https://www.nydailynews.com/lati ... ff-article-1.370515
("Less than a year after the U.S. government finally allowed the import of Spain's succulent and exceedingly expensive jamón Ibérico de bellota * * * American gourmets has become caught in a quagmire of regulations and trade wars.  The trouble started just months after the hams — traditionally presented with the distinctive black hoof still attached — began arriving. Someone noticed that the hoofs violated a USDA sanitary rule requiring they be removed. USDA spokeswoman Peggy Riek says the rule, which also applies to domestic production, is designed to reduce the risk of contamination. So officials began making importers cut off the hoofs. It satisfied the regulations, but irritated eaters")

The photo that came with this report shows moldy jamon iberico. And that is indeed the case.

(f) Compare prosciutto
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosciutto
(is an Italian dry-cured ham; section 1 Etymology)