Heritage Meats
 |
| Scottish Highland Beef Brisket |
Before supermarkets and
distributors made mass-produced livestock dominant on the market, American
farms raised a wide variety of farm animal breeds. These were developed over
centuries for being able to thrive in their particular climate and environment,
and for the flavor and texture of their meats.
Red Bourbon and Narragasett
Turkeys, Dark Cornish chicken, Buff geese, Berkshire pork, Tunis lamb, Red Poll
beef and American bison, are only a few of the wide range of heritage breeds
being raised by American farms.
Despite being ideally suited to
their particular climate and vegetation, forming an integral part of the land's
ecosystem, many of these breeds have become rare, and in some cases almost
extinct. This is mainly because they do not respond profitably to the challenge
of mammoth industrial meat and poultry production. In fact, there are only a
handful of livestock breeds that do "respond well" to factory
farming. These animals have been artificially bred out of most of their natural
instincts and will thrive and rapidly become indecently obese on entirely
artificial diets.
Heritage meats are different from
their industrial counterpart: They often have less excess fat, a tighter
muscular grain, and superior flavor.
Rescuing heritage breeds is
preserving our cultural heritage, a part of America's bio-diversity and a
resource for future generations. It also means enjoying some of the best meats
in the world while helping small farmers and breeders survive.
Raising these breeds can be more
costly and time consuming than raising the more common ones, which were
developed for productivity. This makes heritage meats tipically more expensive
than supermarket fare, but those who have tasted them agree that the cost -and
the wait- are well worth it.
Within the Grand Rapids area, Duba & Company market and sell
heritage meats (I'm sure they'll ship anywhere if you want to buy from them). I recently had the
opportunity to purchase my first order from Duba. I bought several pounds of hamburger, steaks,
and a beef brisket. All of the beef
coming from Scottish Highland cattle. It
goes without saying, the beef I purchased from Duba is absolutely the finest
tasting beef I have ever eaten, bar none.
But, don’t take my word for
it. Go online to their website, call, or email Jeff Duba and order some hamburger and
taste it for yourself. If you don’t
think it’s the best you’ve ever eaten, send me whatever is left over and I’ll
eat it!! If you do like it, order some more of their products and support the local producers of this excellent beef.
To learn more about both Heritage
and Heirloom foods, here is a good place to start: Slow Food Ark of
Taste
