"My hope is that my children will have the same passion for this as I do..."
Meet Larry Althiser, the owner and head meat cutter for Larry's Custom Meats in Hartwick, NY, a small farming community in the Northern Catskills. Larry takes pride in his slaughterhouse. He's been butchering and processing animals for over 30 years, learning through hard work his philosophy on the right way to slaughter animals so we can eat:
"Some people just don't care about other people. They just don't. I don't understand that. I want my people to care about the other end of it, not just walk in and do something and walk out at the end of the day. They need to care about what they're doing, who they're feeding and how they're doing it."
I spent two days upstate with Larry at his brand new processing plant to learn firsthand how animals become food - a rare opportunity to tell the story of transparency in the meat industry. Truth be told, I was very, very anxious going into this shoot. The night before, I tossed and turned in my bed, restless for hours. I just wasn't sure if I was ready to see the whole process, to film what I'd been shy to film for years. But, I had to do it. It's a story I wanted to tell, a good story about a proud butcher open to teaching his trade, and a story I felt compelled to share with many others, like me, who didn't want to be disconnected to their food any longer.
Slaughterhouses must exist and thrive so that small farmers can raise animals, sell meat and keep their farms alive. And animals have to die for us meat-eaters to eat. It's a food system that goes hand in hand. But, there's a right way and a wrong way to do this. The Center for Agricultural Development & Research (CADE), featured in Part 1 of this series, believes Larry does things right. So if I was going to show you a kill floor for the first time, this was it.
"Skilled, artisanal type butchers are as rare as farmers or large animal veterinarians. Although there are some younger folks in the slaughterhouses, the guys who have the real skills of 20 to 30 years are getting up there in age." - Chris Harmon, Executive Director, CADE
Please visit CADE for more information on how you can support local farms. Just remember, this is pretty heavy stuff. So just be sure you want to learn before you press play...
Thanks for watching food. curated.! Feel free to leave your thoughts and feedback in the comments section.
Follow Liza de Guia on Twitter: www.twitter.com/SkeeterNYC
We know without a doubt that we can live on a plant based diet. There is NO reason, except for the amusement of your palate, why animals are still killed. It's bad for our health, the environment and the animals.
The question of whether you'd torture and kill an animal for your own pleasure, entertainment and convenience is, unfortunately, yes. That's just wrong, imho.
The trend in this country, (and the world), must be to reduce the amount of animals we raise and slaughter for food. Our limited resources, grain and water, should be used to feed more people a more healthy diet at a fraction of the cost.
Next time show the conditions under which most meat is produced. Go to a CAFO and a commercial slaughterhouse instead of highlighting the work of one small "artisan" butcher.
Marty
Marty's Flying Vegan Review
www.martysnycveggiereview.blogspot.com
@veganpilotmarty
Personally, i've been vegetarian for 25 yrs. While i would love it if the world stopped eating meat due to it's health, karmic and environmental impacts, i know it's not realistic. The least we can do is thank the spirit of the animal we are imbibing, and make sure it had a wholesome life not penned up in some warehouse somewhere.
I would hope that all meat eaters watch movies like this so they can be informed consumers and decide whether to buy from a local butcher or an agripak who treats the animals like a commodity.
Italian police arrested a Naples butcher after discovering worm-infested meat for sale in his store that was 10 years past its expiry date, the ANSA news agency reported Friday.
Shocked food safety inspectors discovered pasta and biscuits crawling with parasites, rotting meats and dairy products, and olives covered in mold in the store of horrors.
The butcher tampered with expiry dates on the products in order to keep on selling the items, even though some were a decade old, the report said.
Police arrested the butcher on suspicion of endangering public health.
It was not easy to watch this film. I didn't watch the whole thing. Our family includes vegetarians and meat eaters. I'm fanatical about pastured meat, slaughtered at small plants, i.e., as "humanely raised and killed" as possible. But I always wondered how humane it really is.
I feel assured by Larry Althiser. I'm grateful for his craftsmanship and compassion. I'm especially touched by his sensitivity--he doesn't force the animals to stand around smelling blood and growing terrified.
If we are going to take an animal's life, it should be swift and with utmost respect. Mr. Althiser does it right. This kind of care takes commitment, skill, time and--hello consumers--money.
Consumers need to grok that grassfed farmers and artisinal butchers don't get rich doing what they do. Humanely raised meat is expensive because it's expensive to raise and process meat animals humanely. That simple.
Supermarket meat pricing is unnaturally low. Our government subsidizes Big AG--and looks the other way at horrific conditions at CAFOs, during animal transport and at huge slaughter plants.
Humanely raised meat is affordable--you just have to buy less of it. Most can't--and shouldn't--eat eat meat every day. Big deal. Enjoy delicious vegetarian alternatives, pay fair prices for humanely-raised meat and give thanks for this feast food, for the animals--and for people like Larry Althiser.
"Barbara Kingsolver on the longings and lessons of a year in which she primarily ate what she could grow herself. Her book about that experience is now a staple in our cultural reappraisal of the ethics of eating. And food, she says, is a moral arena in which the ethical choice is often the pleasurable choice."
http://being.publicradio.org/programs/2010/ethics-of-eating/
My daughter (a teenager) has become a vegetarian.... for everything that we don't raise ourselves.
She's been helping to raise cows and chickens since she was little, and even helps us butcher chickens.
I think that the work she's done on the farm contributes directly to her desire to become a doctor. She's not scared of dissecting animals because it's just always been a part of her life.