“High on the hog” is a recent expression that dates back only to the mid 1940s.
It means you can afford to eat well.
The best pork cuts (chops, hams, roasts, et cetera) are found higher on the pig than those traditionally prepared and eaten by the less affluent. Of course, being poor doesn’t mean you can’t eat well.
Delicious meals have been made from those areas “low on the hog” (feet, belly, knuckles, and jowls).
These meals were eaten by field hands and hard laborers who had worked up a hearty appetite.
So being hungry might have made these dishes even more enjoyable to them than those eaten by the overfed upper classes.
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