Fried ramps with potatoes and heritage bacon

It’s called ‘heritage’ bacon because the pigs used were a specially cultivated breed. Most bacon you see in supermarkets are from industrialized farms. Unfortunately, heritage pork breeds are not suited for the intensive farming techniques being used nowadays, and some of the older breeds are in danger of being lost forever. Fortunately some are being preserved by a few dedicated farmers concerned about the general indifference of the consumer towards heritage breed conservation.

The idea is preserving heritage breeds by consuming them. It is dangerous to have only a handful of commercial livestock breeds which have all the same traits. A new illness, or a radical change in the world’s climate, could wipe them out in no time without enough variation in the genetic pool available for them to recover. Modern industrial breeds are weak in the sense that they now have genetic defects due to excessive, unnatural inbreeding.

If you wanted to make this vegetarian, simply use butter or olive oil instead of bacon drippings to fry the ramps and potatoes. Cook until tender. Season to taste as you go along. Add 2 to 3 lightly beaten eggs to the vegetables. Cook until the eggs are browned on the underside; flip and cook for 30 seconds, then slide out of the pan to a warmed plate. Serve immediately.