Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Connecting with our Food


CADE (Part 2): The Good Slaughter: A Proud Meat Cutter Shares His Processing Floor from SkeeterNYC on Vimeo.



The local food movement is growing in leaps and bounds.  Small family farms are springing up all over the country and these farmers are putting clean, safe food back on America's dinner plates.  Custom butchers are an integral part of a livestock producer's operation.

I can raise a perfect lamb on grass, but I then need a skilled artisan butcher to take that animal and fabricate it into the lamb chops that will be on your plate for Easter dinner.  A poor processor can ruin a whole animal in a very short amount of time and cost a farmer a lot of money. And , yes, I have had that happen. 

Butchery and charcuterie are (almost) lost arts.  As you will see in this video, processing animals for food takes compassion, skill and pure physical strength.  I was honored to meet, talk to  and watch inaction, several artisan butchers from the Butcher's Guild at the Carolina Meat Conference.  

So think about the work these guys do the next time you put a burger on the grill.  Believe me, I do!