We know and love the pork belly as a delicious thing to glaze with agave and roast for a day, but the financial history of the fatty cut is as rich as its flavor.
The bellies market opened up in the early 1960s, when, apparently, "the trading of pork belly futures seemed to open up a whole new set of possibilities." Back then, when bellies were frozen for the winter then used during summer months as demand picked back up (the Times cites BLTs as a major factor), trading could get so intense that one analyst supposedly "died right there" in the belly pit!
But with the ever-growing popularity of bacon, "the pork belly landscape has shifted," according to one livestock economist, and frozen bellies are no longer as much of a necessity (which makes trading on their future value a lot less interesting).
The whole article has even more great pork belly quotes, so you should read it.
[via NY Times]