Good Ol' Pork

The survival of a family unit: “Noah slit the bodies from end to end and dropped the entrails out onto the ground.  Pa sharpened two more sticks to hold the bodies open to the air, while Tom with the scrubber and Ma with a dull knife scraped the skins…Noah carried the slabs of meat into the kitchen and cut it into small salting blocks, and Ma patted the coarse salt in, laid it piece by piece in the kegs…”

Pig was an important food item to have especially since there was enough meat to feed the whole family while traveling on the road. Creative dishes were created using all cuts of the pork. The Joads family were fortunate enough to have two pigs to take with them for food. This description of the way they prepared them for their journey shows the family working together as a collective unit each getting the job done.