A man took four days out of his life as a corporate communications consultant and actor to live with pigs. (Is this what PR does to people?) "I can honestly say I enjoyed it," Richard da Costa said in a BBC essay about the experience (publicity stunt?).

It was two months before I could eat pig after coming out of thefarm. I finally cracked and hypocrisy played its role as I was lured back to tearing my former bedfellow's flesh with my teeth. And by what? Spare ribs. Chorizo. Plain old bacon.

As much as I hate to say it, they really do taste very good. But I am a responsible shopper now. I think more about where all the things that I buy come from.

As consumers, we drive all production and - by how much we value something - the methods of that production.

Often enough we turn a blind eye to where our food comes from. We may suffer the occasional pang of guilt but this will soon subside with the next two-for-one offer.

So as I trot around in my busy, aspirational, self-centred, self-important and ultimately pretty small life, sometimes, remembering my life as as an animal will do me no harm at all.

Now, here's the video on decoding pig speak.