In the age of the celebrity chef, the foodie and the grass-fed golden calf, this fatty cut of belly meat is everywhere – untethered from economics, vaulted from immigrant kitchens and free to populate American menus. Or, more simply, pork belly is Heirloom Cafe’s chef de cuisine Chris Rountree’s favorite ingredient in the locally-focused plates he cooks up at the Chase Street restaurant. “It’s what food is all about to me,” Rountree said of this guilty pleasure. “It draws you in. You smell it, and it’s everything you want.”

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