Eat More Pork: 8 Reasons Why It's Good For You

Pork is good for you, full of life-preserving nutrients and vitamins, didn't you know? We recently spotted this list of pork belly's health benefits on the menu at Palsaik Samgyeopsal, a Koreatown sam-gyeopsal house. That'd be a restaurant specializing in Korean-style pork belly cooked on a griddle. Here, it's prepared eight different ways and served in a rainbow array with greens, raw garlic, kimchi and an assortment of pickled vegetables.

To quote Jonathan Gold:

The difference between Korean pork belly culture and American bacon fixation is that a lot of Koreans tend to think of pork belly as health food — perhaps not health food in the way that bracken ferns are health food, but as a magic, protein-rich substance that clears the skin, protects the liver, detoxifies the lungs, even cleanses the system of cholesterol.

Off all Palsaik Samgyeopsal's claims about pork's salutary effects, we're most intrigued by “heavy metal detox” and preventing “adult disease.” We'll also take healthier skin, which presumably occurs from getting facials with the leftover pork grease. As for weight loss, haven't been able to shed those extra pounds? Try harder. Eat more pork.

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