Salt pork

Salt pork is the Joad family's most vital food supply during their migration from Oklahoma to California, serving as both a practical source of protein and a recurring symbol of the family's dwindling resources, their struggle for survival, and the economic exploitation they face along the way. From the slaughter of the pigs on the eve of departure to the final, desperate meals in the flooded boxcar, salt pork marks every stage of the journey, its presence or absence measuring the family's fortunes and its distribution revealing the moral codes that govern the migrant community.

Slaughter and Preparation

The salt pork originates from the two shoats the Joads slaughter on their last night at Uncle John's place. Pa insists on salting the meat down for the journey, saying, "I aim to get those pigs salted down to eat on the way. We gonna need meat." The family works through the night: Noah cuts the meat into small salting blocks, and Ma pats coarse salt in, laying the slabs like bricks in two kegs, careful that no two pieces touch. The preacher, Jim Casy, offers to help, but Ma initially resists, saying, "It's women's work," though Casy insists, "It's all work. They's too much of it to split it up to men's or women's work." The roasting bones are saved for gnawing, and the family eats them as they prepare to leave at dawn.

Sustenance on the Road

Salt pork becomes the family's primary food on the road. Ma boils it for supper on the first night of the journey, and the family gnaws the crisp particles from the bones during rest stops. When the Wilson family joins them, Ma shares the pork, saying, "Noah, you get into them kegs an' bring out some nice pork." The meat is also used to barter for hospitality and to feed the hungry children who gather around the cooking fire. At the Hooverville, Ma makes a stew with the salt pork, and the sight of it draws a circle of starving children. She is forced to share the last of it, saying, "I can't send 'em away. I don't know what to do."

Economic Exploitation

At the Hooper ranch, the company store sells salt pork at inflated prices, exploiting the workers' hunger. Ma asks for side-meat, and the storekeeper tells her it costs thirty-five cents a pound, calling it "Christmas stuff. Thanksgiving' stuff." When Ma protests, he retorts, "Then go git 'em in town," knowing the workers have no gas to travel. The salt pork, once a symbol of the family's self-sufficiency, becomes a marker of their entrapment in a system designed to keep them in debt.

Final Meals and Symbolic Significance

As the family's money runs out, salt pork becomes a rare luxury. In the boxcar camp, Ma buys pork chops and side-meat with the money earned from cotton picking, and the family eats them with fried potatoes. When the flood comes and the food is gone, Ma hoards the remains of store bread under her blanket. The salt pork, which once sustained the family through the journey, is now a memory of better times. Its disappearance marks the family's final descent into destitution, culminating in Rose of Sharon's desperate act of breastfeeding a starving stranger in the barn.