The success of the programs is built, in part, on food writers like Michael Pollan, who have said, essentially, it’s O.K. to satisfy your pork-chop cravings if you limit your intake and turn away from industrial meat practices, as well as chefs like Gordon Ramsay and Dan Barber, who have featured slaughtering and butchering as an intrinsic part of the food experience.

Image Credit... Richard Haas

Mr. Ramsay famously portrayed the slaughter of pigs on his television show in England a few years ago, which outraged animal-rights activists in that country. Mr. Barber, who has included the on-site slaughterhouse (at least the outside) on the public tours of his restaurant, Blue Hill at Stone Barns, has said that patrons generally tell him that knowing that animals were slaughtered on the premises adds to their dining experience; giving them a new level of connection to their meals.

And yet, for student butchers, absolution can still feel a long way off, especially when butchering class can make you look like an extra for “Saw III.”

In Ryan Farr’s whole-hog classes in San Francisco, students use hacksaws and hatchets to remove hooves and brains. One volunteer in every class  lucky if you want to call it that  gets to chop off the head. “That always sort of breaks the ice,” Mr. Farr said.

Mr. King’s class isn’t for the squeamish, either. “When you come to class, wear your rain gear and boots, because there’s going to be blood,” he said.

Christian Rusby, who lives with his vegetarian girlfriend, did find the dinner afterward a bit unsettling. As they feasted on pork, the odor of the slaughter came back.