The
pork belly is the underside of the pig, from which
bacon is made in the United States (in other parts of the world, bacon is more often made from back and side meats and bacon made from bellies is referred to as "streaky" or "American Style"). This cut of meat is enormously popular in
Chinese cuisine and
Korean cuisine where it is generally marinated and cooked as a whole slab. Pork belly is also used to make sweet and sour pork.
Pork bellies and pork belly futures contracts have been traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange since 1961. The unit of trading is 20 tons of frozen, trimmed bellies. Pork bellies can be kept in cold storage for an extended period of time, and generally it is the frozen bellies that are most actively traded. Bellies typically weigh around 13 pounds. Prices vary depending on the amount of inventory in cold storage and the seasonal demand for bacon.
Pork-belly trading was referred to in the movies Trading Places and For Pete's Sake -- in fact, the working title of the latter film was "July Pork Bellies."
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