Are footballs really made of pig skin?
23976719#38
In Europe, early footballs were made out of animal bladders, more specifically pig's bladders, which were inflated. Later leather coverings were introduced to allow the balls to keep their shape. However, in 1851, Richard Lindon and William Gilbert, both shoemakers from the town of Rugby (near the school), exhibited both round and oval-shaped balls at the Great Exhibition in London. Richard Lindon's wife is said to have died of lung disease caused by blowing up pig's bladders. Lindon also won medals for the invention of the "Rubber inflatable Bladder" and the "Brass Hand Pump".
Football
143183#1
The first balls were made of natural materials, such as an inflated pig bladder, later put inside a leather cover, which has given rise to the American slang-term "pigskin". Modern balls are designed by teams of engineers to exacting specifications, with rubber or plastic bladders, and often with plastic covers. Various leagues and games use different balls, though they all have one of the following basic shapes:
Football (ball)
57928120#2
Hairless guinea pigs are not significantly physiologically different than regular haired guinea pigs, although they need to eat more to maintain body heat. The optimal temperature range for a hairless guinea pig is , which is slightly higher than the optimal temperature range for the haired guinea pig.
Their skin has a similar appearance to human skin, but has a more rubbery texture. Their skin is quite vulnerable to sunburn, other injuries and fungal infections unless precautions are taken. Baldwin guinea pigs should be housed indoors and they are usually kept with nesting materials such as a blanket, fleece bag or small plastic or wooden house for heat conservation. Heating pads or other external heat sources may be needed when the weather is cold.
Baldwin guinea pig
15929223#5
Almost all of the pig can be used as food. Preparations of pig parts into specialties include: sausage (and casings made from the intestines), bacon, gammon, ham, skin into pork scratchings, feet into trotters, head into a meat jelly called head cheese (brawn), and consumption of the liver, chitterlings and blood (blood pudding or black pudding). This is also, technically, the case for all other mammals, although the demand is not really there.
Pig farming
143183#3
The oldest football still in existence, which is thought to have been made circa 1550, was discovered in the roof of Stirling Castle, Scotland, in 1981. The ball is made of leather (possibly from a deer) and a pig's bladder. It has a diameter of between , weighs and is currently on display at the Smith Art Gallery and Museum in Stirling.
Football (ball)
25342744#5
In Mammola, an ancient tradition survives of making the serenity when you kill the pig, sung and played with accordion and guitar to honor the family. This special evening is celebrated with friends and family with the tasting of "frittole, obviously accompanied by a glass of wine and bread pizza" (corn bread), prepared during the day and cooked in the typical "caddàra. In other cultures, specifically ancient Greek, the pig skin's wrinkle count is used to predict the gender of a newborn. If the pig skin has an even number of wrinkles, the child is likely female. On the other hand, if the pig skin tallies an odd number of wrinkles, then the child is likely a male.
Frìttuli
32546#52
Many of the traditional northern Lunar New Year dishes such as "thịt đông, giò thủ," and " canh măng móng giò" involve the use of pig heads, tongues, throats and feet. Pig and beef tails, as well as chicken heads, necks and feet, are Vietnamese favorite beer dishes. "Bóng", used as an ingredient in "canh bóng" – a kind of soup, is pig skin baked until popped. Steamed pig brains can be found almost anywhere along a Vietnamese street. Also in the northern part of Vietnam, different kinds of animal blood can be made into a dish called "tiết canh" by whisking the blood with fish sauce and cold water in a shallow dish along with finely chopped, cooked duck innards (such as gizzards), sprinkled with crushed peanuts and chopped herbs such as Vietnamese coriander, mint, etc. It is then cooled until the blood coagulates into a soft, jelly-like mixture and served raw.
Vietnamese cuisine
11659808#0
Bánh da lợn or bánh da heo (literally "pig skin cake") is a Vietnamese steamed layer cake made from tapioca starch, rice flour, mashed mung beans, taro, or durian, coconut milk and/or water, and sugar. It is sweet and gelatinously soft in texture, with thin (approximately 1 cm) colored layers alternating with layers of mung bean, durian, or taro filling.
Bánh da lợn
1943120#18
American-style pork rinds are usually made from pig skin and fat without meat. They are commonly seasoned and sold in plastic bags, like corn and potato chips (crisps) as a "junk food" item. Some brands in the Southwest use the Spanish term , and Mexican-style dishes are available in many Mexican and Southwestern restaurants in the region. In the Deep South, traditional home-cooked pork rinds are called "cracklings" or (colloquially) "cracklins". They are made in a two-step process: the pork skin is first rendered and dried, and then fried and puffed. In New Mexico, the term is often taken to mean just fried pork fat, sometimes with incidental bits of lean meat.
Chicharrón
2186735#35
The oldest surviving ball that might have been used for football games dates to about 1540 and comes from Scotland. It is made from leather and a pig's bladder. It was discovered in 1981 in the roof structure of the Queen's Chamber, Stirling Castle. Whilst other uses for the ball, such as pallone, have been suggested, most notably by the National Museum of Scotland, due to its size (diameter 14–16 cm), staff at the Stirling Smith Museum and researchers at the Scottish Football Museum have attributed its use to football, citing the description of the ball used in the Carlisle Castle game of 1568.
Medieval football
7244197#0
The business fable of The Chicken and the Pig is about commitment to a project or cause. When producing a dish made of ham or bacon and eggs, the pig provides the ham or bacon which requires his or her sacrifice and the chicken provides the eggs which are not difficult to produce. Thus the pig is really committed in that dish while the chicken is only involved, yet both are needed to produce the dish.
The Chicken and the Pig