Tianliao's Meat-Eating Culture: A Hidden Gem in a Remote Backwater

Tianliao is located in the Dagangshan mountain area of northern Kaohsiung, and its terrain is covered with limestone and mudstone. Years of rainfall erosion have created rolling hills and a network of interlocking valleys and rivers. This badlands landscape of sharp peaks and barren ridges, where nothing grows, is also known as "Moon World." In earlier times, the first settlers built thatched huts beside their fields to stay in while clearing farmland, and the place was thus named "Tianliao" (field hut). The mountain roads here are winding and complex, making it hard for outsiders to penetrate, and since the Qing dynasty it has been a "hotbed of bandits"; the famous Zhu Yigui incident used this area as its base.

It is easy to imagine that Tianliao, with hardly three li of level ground and poor transportation, saw its industrial and commercial development severely hindered, and even now it still maintains a traditional agricultural way of life. It was only after National Freeway No. 3 opened to traffic in the 89th year of the Republic of China (2000) that the township got its first traffic light. Although transportation infrastructure on the western plains of Taiwan is now well developed, and Tianliao Township is only half an hour's drive from National Freeways No. 1 and No. 3 and the high-speed rail, even today it still does not have a single 7-Eleven. Its remoteness is hard to imagine.

Perhaps, besides avoidance measures such as promoting vegetarianism and eating less meat, there could be a more positive answer to the problems of modern animal husbandry? If we could go back to the beginning and let everyone taste anew and fall in love again with the good flavor of natural meat, then might more people be willing to raise animals in a natural way? To promote more environmentally friendly livestock farming methods?

Having tasted the black pork raised by families in Tianliao, that rich and satisfying flavor is truly unforgettable. This kind of meat is not only delicious; with no drug residues, it poses no threat to health, and the farming method is even energy-saving, carbon-reducing, and environmentally friendly. For modern animal husbandry, which has come under heavy criticism from environmentalists, this is a new option.

It was with this idea that we began promoting environmentally friendly livestock farming methods.