In the midst of a truly revolting, in-depth look at a gastronome's apprenticeship to a Tuscan butcher, the author recounts a story of getting a whole pig home to butcher himself, and how it made his neighbor sick as they traveled up an elevator together:
The realization confirmed something I’d always suspected: people don’t want to know what meat is. They don’t think of meat as an animal; they think of it as an element in a meal.But like Jamie Oliver and other "die-hards" before him, Bill Buford is on a quest to get closer to the source of his food, and to go so far as to butcher the animal himself, with a little guidance.
While some people, like yours truly, go vegan upon realizing the cruelty inherent in modern animal consumption, Bill Buford, Michael Pollan, and others are following a "back to the land" (or at least "back to the creature") approach to avoid factory-farmed food and to develop a greater "appreciation" for the animal that provides their meals in the process. After learning the trade (which is described to us in gory detail) and preparing the pig he had brought home six ways to Sunday, Buford concludes:
This pig, we knew precisely, had been slaughtered for our table, and we ended up feeling an affection for it that surprised us.I'm not surprised that some would feel an affection for animals when one is used to treating them as packaged foods and learns to see them as more, but I would hope that affection would lead one to avoid breeding, killing, and eating them in the first place. Surely that's the kinder choice.
A nod to reader Davide Berretta for tipping me off to this article.
Tags: butchers | meat-eating | carnism
