UK butcher insures tastebuds for £1 million

Keith Fisher

Celebrities have insured everything from their legs to their smiles, but a British master butcher is going a step further and preparing to have his taste buds insured for £1 million.
Keith Fisher, butchery development manager at the British Pig Executive, will be covered for the huge sum to protect his unparalleled sense of taste, which has been responsible for distinguishing more than 50,000 cuts and cures of bacon during a 43-year career. Fisher's palate is widely considered to be the best in the business — he can identify any variety or cure of pork in the world.
He said taste has always played a huge role in his life, and was honored to discover his taste buds were to be insured for the eye-raising sum. "I'm passionate about quality bacon and the range of cuts and cures that we produce is just outstanding," said Fisher. "My ability to taste the subtleties in different producers' bacon has stood me in very good stead over the years and has proven to be critically important when it comes to judging the best of the best."
Fisher, who comes from a long line of butchers, was trained at London's Smithfield College and market, where meat has been sold since the 10th century. He is the fourth generation of his family to become a butcher and follows in the footsteps of his great grandfather, who was awarded his "slaughtering license for the military" by Queen Victoria. Fisher regularly judges pork cuts and the new policy to insure his taste buds marks the launch of the country’s Red, White & Bacon Awards — a national competition celebrating the very best of bacons — as part of Bacon Connoisseurs' Week.