In all of our travels in France I don’t think we have ever seen an outdoor reared ‘herd’, ‘drove’ or ‘sounder’. We live close to Rethel, famous for its ‘boudin blanc’ (a white sausage made with pork, bread, cream, spices and eggs) and further to the west is the Ardennes region, famous in the UK for its pâté, but a pig in clover is seldom seen. Driving though my native East Anglia, we pass many farms where pigs have a muddy field, sunshine and shelters. The same can be said when travelling though Wiltshire and the West Country. Sad to say 95% of French pigs are intensively reared indoors and because of their close confinement, routinely treated with antibiotics. We were very happy to find ‘sanglier’ on sale in Lidl’s and Aldi and so treat ourselves to wild boar which is amazingly different in taste and colour to pale pink pork slices.