The steaks my parents cooked were always chuck steak, and I still haven’t quite figured out what words such as sirloin or ribeye mean, let along know a top round from a bottom round or know why I would care which I eat. But I realized anew today how much it means to people whose ambition is a career in the meat industry.
Until we moved to this area (near the Quad Cities in Illinois/Iowa) a few years ago, I never gave much thought to how meat got from a four-legged animal eating grass into the wrapped package in the supermarket. I knew a little, and it was of an industry where animals were not always treated properly, jobs went to immigrants because people who could find better jobs did, and people in the community complained about the smells.
Then we got to know the owner of the local butcher shop. He sold frozen meats primarily, so I didn’t make most of my meat purchases from his shop, but we did try – and enjoy – his buffalo burgers. I also was intrigued by what he told us about young people learning part of his trade.
Meat processing is not something I would ever have imagined a young person aspiring to. But our friend told us about an upcoming FFA competition in meat judging, and how hard the young people he knew were preparing for the event.
I participated in non-athletic competitions in high school, in our area’s Math League, and was proud to bring home a trophy my senior year. But I had never heard before of meat judging competitions, or of high schoolers who would work hard to learn how to evaluate a carcass or a cut of meat. I examined the charts on the wall of his store, trying to remember just a few of the many cuts of meat in the diagram. (I think I would much rather try to solve quadratic equations.)
I still thought of it most as an FFA or 4H activity. But today I discovered, in an article on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, that it is also a significant collegiate competition. It’s not the sort of competition that will show up on ESPN, but the meat-judging teams and their coaches take their competitions as seriously as the more publicly visible athletic teams.
Competitions, like practices, take place in meat lockers – cold, noisy, and lined with carcasses – and last most of the day. Teams have to judge the quality of the meat itself as well as the angle of a cut. Small details count a lot – but they can easily be missed due to cold, fatigue, and having stared at so many similar hunks of meat.
I’ll probably never look at a steak quite the same way again.
March 13, 2008 at 5:25 am |
When I was a high school teacher about 30 years ago, I participated with two other teachers in offering a half-day alternative school program based around futurology and environmentalism. Each year we had a theme for the year. In the year where we used food as a theme, we told the students, “If you are going to eat meat, you should be aware of where it comes from. We will provide you with the opportunity to watch a cow being butchered. It’s optional to attend; your grade will not be affected if you opt out.”
About 2/3 of the students chose to come with us (the teachers ) to watch a cow being butchered in a private slaughterhouse. Although some of our students were already vegetarians, as far as I know, the experience itself did not inspire any new vegetarians.
Our neighbors on the island bought some chickens. We will probably start raising chickens ourselves next year. Watch out, chickens. Although we will try to kill you humanely, we will almost certainly kill you after we’ve finished taking your eggs.
March 13, 2008 at 10:13 am |
Hi Pauline! A butcher in the Quad Cities? I know one from that area. Great guy and makes a wonderful BBQ pork.
I, too, knew little about how meat got to the table. Then I married a farm girl. I helped clean out the pig stalls. A smelly job that. I have also toured a pork packing plant as part of my job teaching English to the immigrant workers. I could not get the smell out of memory for days. However, I still love a good pork chop or ham sandwich.