Tuesday, June 20, 2000
Pig's home center of debate
NEWPORT — Kentucky is no hotbed of healthy eating. Our signature dish is a pile of fat, meat and bread. Side dishes are flavored with bacon. Casseroles inevitably contain ham. For a fiberglass pig named “Mr. Meatless,” this could mean trouble, an animal-rights activist says.
Jayn Meinhardt, a member of the Cincinnati Vegetarian Resource Group, is concerned about the group's entry in the Big Pig Gig. Mr. Meatless is covered with vegetables and the message, “Eat veggies, not me.”
He's supposed to go along Monmouth Street in Newport.
The Vegetarian Resource Group would prefer a location in Cincinnati. Nearly all of its 1,000 members are from Ohio, and they collected $1,800 to sponsor the pig, artist Karen Friedman says. She donated her $1,000 in artist's pay to complete the sponsorship.
The pro-veggie message probably would reach more people in Cincinnati than Newport, Ms. Friedman says.
Then there's the potential for meat-related trouble.
“Newport certainly is not known as a vegetarian-friendly area,” Ms. Meinhardt says. “That would be my first response — that he would not be desired there.”
Newport is home to one of the area's only vegetarian-oriented restaurants, the York Street Cafe. But in general, the state is not known as a bastion of ethical eating.
People get defensive about their food choices, Ms. Meinhardt says. Mr. Meatless' message may be too direct for Monmouth Street, she says.
Yesterday, I went there to find out.
“I'm a vegetarian, so that sounds great to me,” said Dixie Adamkiewicz, manager of Herbs and More. She gets her protein from algae and lives in Warsaw, Ky., where she names her neighbors' beef cattle and mourns when they disappear.
Northern Kentucky needs more vegetarian restaurants, she says.
When waitresses suggest green beans, she points out that even those contain ham.
“Oh yeah. I guess they do,” the waitresses say.
“They don't get mad,” Ms. Adamkiewicz says. “They just never thought about it.”
At Uncle Charlie's Music Store, two guys had kind words for the veggie pig and harsh ones for hunting. Kenny Powell and Roger Trent eat meat but say they could never hunt it.
“No offense, but when someone kills a deer, it makes me sick,” Mr. Powell says.
About the pig: “Just because it's got tomatoes and cabbage hanging off it, so what? If it looks good sitting out there, leave it.”
At Dixie Chili, I spoke with two guys eating hot dogs. Both had no problem with vegetarians promoting their cause.
“I won't trash vegetable lovers if they don't trash me as a meat lover,” Phil Black says.
As it happens, Mr. Meatless may end up in a different part of Newport.
Of the 400 pigs in the gig, about 120 are slated for Kentucky. Some 20 already are in place in Newport and Covington.
Locations for the rest are being re-evaluated, says Betsy Neyer, marketing manager for the Pig Gig. To minimize vandalism and accommodate tourists, the pigs may be grouped together and moved closer to attractions, she says.
I hope Mr. Meatless stays in Kentucky. He has more sympathizers here than he realizes.
Karen Samples can be reached at (859) 578-5584
her at ksamples@enquirer.com
Complete information about the Big Pig Gig at Cincinnati.com/bigpiggig
