Story Pig in Rooting for Real Farms series with Romy Gill

Farmer James Hull who runs 'The Story Pig' near Sandford Orcas stars alongside Romy Gill MBE, a chef on Ready Steady Cook and one of the judges on 2016's Celebrity MasterChef, in a new series of 'Rooting for Real Farms'.

In the series, top chefs team up with local farmers to urge people to help end factory farming by only buying from local, high welfare farms.

James' farm, The Story Pig, is a free range Tamworth pig farm in Sandford Orcas, Dorset.

Tamworths are the oldest breed of native pig in the British Isles, most closely linked to wild woodland pigs of a bygone age, with distinctive red-haired coats.

Farmer James Hull said: “Top chefs have become more accustomed with how meat is produced; a slow grown pig, especially a rare breed or native breed, have a much better flavour.

"Whereas factory farm pigs are very different, they live in tiny pens with their tails cut off because they bite each other's tails from boredom and stress.

"Their low quality lifestyle produces substandard meat.”

“Our pigs are produced outside, they’re a free range pig so they can wallow, run, graze, dig, and do everything that a pig could do in the wild.

"Everyone should eat better meat and find out where it’s from so we definitely turn our noses up to factory farming.”

In this episode, Romy showcases her Anglo-Indian cuisine by cooking a delicious pork recipe with a blend of fresh spices, known as Panch Phoron, and aims to highlight the case for better meat and to boycott factory farms.

Chef Romy Gill said: “When pigs are roaming around freely, they have more muscles and meat, and when you are cooking you can tell the difference.

"I always try to avoid using factory farmed meat in my cooking as the pigs are crammed into small spaces with no fresh air or sunlight, and they can’t move around - I think it’s appalling.”

The series features some of the UK’s leading foodies, including chefs Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Clodagh McKenna, Olia Hercules, and Ching He Huang, as well as actor Dominic West, who have taken part in the new series that urges people to ‘turn their noses up’ at factory farming and support local farmers at this pivotal moment in UK food and farming history.