A LITTLE CARNIVOROUS INDULGENCE: It might seem odd to include an occasional meat dish, and for pork, nonetheless, in a recipe club aimed at sharing and teaching the benefits of a mostly plant-based diet. In the Mediterranean, though, meat consumption is not anathema; it’s just not a daily or, dare I say, even weekly indulgence, or at least wasn’t a generation or two ago. I love an occasional hunk of animal protein and in my own diet consume meat a couple of times a month, often as a special treat, maybe on Sunday or out on a Saturday night. pork is an important traditional source of protein in the Mediterranean, and its consumption is a good example of nose to tail eating. In rural communities, where people still keep their own animals, the pork slaughter happens around the Christmas holidays and nothing, literally, goes to waste. But, it’s important to note that the animal will be consumed by an extended family for months, in bits here and there and as a special treat, like these chops!