I'm going to make a case for the most underrated meat in Britain. Stick with me — because I think it's time we all fell back in love with pork.

You may have seen pig farming in the news lately. There's a real glut of pigs in the country right now — more pork being produced than people are buying, prices that have dropped below what it costs to raise the animals, and small independent farmers feeling the squeeze. It's a tough time for the pig world.

And honestly? Part of what makes it so frustrating is that British pork — proper, well-raised British pork — is genuinely brilliant. It deserves so much better than to be overlooked.

Poor old pork gets forgotten

Think about it. Beef gets pride of place on a Sunday. Lamb and hogget get the "special occasion" treatment (rightly — our hogget is gorgeous). But pork? Pork tends to get forgotten, treated as the everyday, slightly boring option. The thing you have when you can't think of anything else.

I think I know why — and it isn't pork's fault.

Most people have never tasted proper pork

The trouble is, most of the pork people have eaten is the bland, watery, intensively-farmed kind — reared fast and indoors, wrapped in plastic, with very little flavour to speak of. Taste that and it's no wonder you'd decide pork "isn't exciting."

But that's not our pork. Not even close.

Our pigs are reared outdoors here on our Derbyshire farm, free to root and roam, grown slowly the way nature intended. That outdoor life and slower growing is exactly what gives the meat its proper flavour, its texture and that lovely natural layer of fat that bastes the meat as it cooks. One taste of pork raised this way and you'll wonder why you ever overlooked it.

It's good for you, too

Pork has a bit of an unfair reputation, but well-reared pork is naturally rich in protein and nutrients like B vitamins and zinc — the sort of honest, nourishing food that's been feeding families for generations. It's wholesome, satisfying, proper food.

And it's wonderfully versatile

This is where pork really shines. There's a cut for every occasion and every cook:

• A roasting joint with crackling that shatters — the ultimate Sunday lunch.
• Chops and steaks for a quick, easy supper or the barbecue.
• Slow-cooked belly that falls apart at the touch of a fork.
• Sausages the whole family will devour — ours made by our own butcher, in your choice of flavour.

From a lazy weeknight to a proper feast, pork does it all — and does it beautifully.

My little mission

So here it is: I want to make pork popular again. To remind people that, raised properly, it's every bit as special as the beef and lamb that hog the limelight — and to give all those good British pigs the appreciation they deserve.

When you buy outdoor-reared pork from a small farm like ours, you're choosing flavour, welfare and traceability over a faceless plastic tray. You're supporting independent British farming. And you're giving a wonderful, honest meat the place back on your table it's always deserved.

Our outdoor-reared pork is available now — on our nationwide delivery, by local delivery, or click & collect from the farm. Give it a proper go. I promise you won't look at pork the same way again.