Not to offend the political vegetarians (though I doubt the proviso
will take), but has any one eaten suckling pig? Perhaps at some
noteworthy soiree or other?

I never have, though I saw a few while working as a musician at events
where we came in through the back door and were admonished
never-ever-ever to speak to the clientele. The piglet always seemed
pretty creepy layed out like that without any abstraction to cloak it
as an animal to be rent assunder by the savages. Kind of like a holiday
Turkey if you not only left the head, neck and feet on, but configured
them to look "entertaining" with a plum in the beak or something.

Or, like a whole fish laying on a plate--something that's never spooked
me, as I ponder it. But it sure spooks some people. We've certainly
gotten whole fried smelt at Japanese restaurants before. But at a
Syrian restaurant we go a big plate with probably 30 smelt and our more
delicate friends were appalled. They not only wouldn't eat them, they
felt uncomfortable when we picked them up and bit of their little
heads. We thought it amusing, but then realized it really did creep
them. I whittled off some heads with a knife, and the tail fins too,
put them on a small plate and said, "How about this, better?" My buddy
said he wasn't sure if it would have been acceptable initially, but it
had "phantom head and tail" at this point. Interesting.

There's a nearby Egyptian place that does stuffed pigeon, which I've
wanted to try since reading/viewing some things about Cairo cuisine.
But they also do a stuffed duck for four. I've so far only managed to
get two together on that deal. But my assumption is that make no
attempt to make it look like an animal on a plate, splayed for visual
amusement. Like maybe configured to look as if it's about to take to
the wing or something.