Pig roast

In Indonesia, roast pig is called babi guling, babi putar, babi panggang or babi bakar; it is predominantly found in non-Muslim majority regions, such as Hindu Bali and Christian Batak lands in North Sumatra, the Minahasa people of North Sulawesi, Toraja in South Sulawesi, Papua, and also among Chinese Indonesians. In Bali, babi guling is usually served with lawar and steamed rice; it is a popular dish in Balinese restaurants and warungs.[6] In the Batak people's tradition, babi guling is a prerequisite in wedding offerings by the bride's family. In Papua, pigs and yams are roasted in heated stones placed in a hole dug in the ground and covered with leaves; this cooking method is called bakar batu (burning the stone), and it is an important cultural and social event among Papuan people.

Pig roasting in the Philippines, circa 1935

Similarly in the Philippines, also a former Spanish colony, the lechon, a pork dish, is eaten.[7] It is referred to as lechon baboy or litson baboy,[8] and is one of the main highlights at celebratory occasions and fiestas.[9]

Pig roast (lechon asado) is very popular in many former Spanish colonies; it is a part of Puerto Rico's national dish and is usually served with arroz con gandules. In Puerto Rico & Cuba pig roasts occur year-round, but are most common at New Year's Eve and especially Christmas; occasionally if a family has moved to the United States, they will take the recipe with them and use it during the summer.[10] In the Dominican Republic, puerco a la puya is a traditional part of the Christmas Eve meal.[11] In Spain, the locals call this a suckling pig or a lechon asado. Hog roasts are becoming more popular across Spain and more so in Southern Spain due to the ex-pat community, as well as some of Spain's former colonies.

In the UK, the tradition of pig roasting, more commonly known in the UK as a "hog roast", is popular on many occasions, particularly parties and celebrations. It is usually an outdoor event, and a staple meal at many show events.[12] The tradition is to roast either on a spit, turning the pig under a flame, or in a large oven in a roasting pan; roasting pigs around 130 lbs (60 kg) in weight are common in the UK. The pig is normally roasted in a propane gas machine. The pig's skin is scored with a sharp blade and covered in water and salt to make the crackling. In ancient times, going all the way back to the Saxons, roasting a wild boar was often the centerpiece of a meal at Yuletide, with Yule being Freya's feast. The head was often the greatest delicacy, as evidenced by the survival of the Boar's Head Carol.

Roasted pig served at a wedding in New Jersey

In the United States, roasting a whole pig or a feral hog has been a tradition for over two hundred years, especially in the Southern United States where it is closely linked to barbecue. From Virginia south to Florida Panhandle. and west to the Mississippi River south to Louisiana, the favored meat in Southern, Cajun, Appalachian, and Creole cooking is pork and has been since colonial times: pigs did not require any special handling or maintenance and could be sent off into the woods and rounded up again when supplies ran low, and thus were the prime choice for meat for small farmers and plantation owners, and for men living up in the mountains, the tradition was to drive their pigs to market every fall, fattening them up on the many nuts and acorns that proliferated in the area. George Washington even mentions attending a barbecue in his journal on August 4, 1769,[13] and the records of Mount Vernon note a smokehouse on the premises. Like many plantation owners, he raised several pigs for slaughter in November and once his slaves had finished curing the meat into ham and bacon, they would pit roast some whole pigs over hot coals as a treat.[14] Outside of the English-speaking states of the South, francophone Cajuns, then as now, had Cochon de lait as a traditional dish for the gathering of their large families.