Where does your beef come from?

Gorgeous Beef!

Marinating in: Organic Tamari (wheat-free soy sauce), garlic powder, sea salt and pepper

A few days before Christmas I found myself in denial. Denial that it was a few days before Christmas. Typically I plan things ahead of time (although I have noticed that with my "older" age, comes more of a "go with the flow" agenda).  Now that I do not micro manage myself as much, I need to accept the fact that I reap what I sow.

So, there I am standing in the middle of Whole Foods/paycheck, when I realize that we may not have that wonderful, standing prime rib roast that I like to make for Christmas dinners. As I approached the butcher counter and inquired, my hunch was right. I did not order mine ahead, so I get to choose from whatever is left over. They did have some choice rib roasts, beef that is "Step 1" according to Whole Food's meat "5-step Animal Welfare Rating" system.  Step 1 requires that "Animals live their lives with space to move around and stretch their legs." That's only one of the several things I look for in buying meat. Looking ahead to "Step 5", this is the stipulation to qualifying, "Animals get to live their whole lives with all the body parts they were born with." This just sounds horrific to me, although I had a slight chuckle (evil laugh) because this sounds like a no brainer that a cow would need all the body parts it was born with in order to be a productive end product. Obviously I am not a farmer, a rancher, or a butcher. I am a "Volvo-driving Soccer Mom" (warning, that link is rated PG-13) who tries REALLY hard to make sure my family eats well enough (to make up for all the years I "let" them eat McDonald's Happy Meals, ugh) and help them build a foundation of food knowledge. And, now that we are in the Beyond Organic business, I am learning more than I ever began to think about in terms of every thing that comes into play with where my meat truly comes from, how it's handled, and how nutritious it really is.

After the Whole Foods butcher explained to me that the marbling was better in the lower rated cuts of beef (because the animals are fed corn to fatten them up) and tried to sell me on it, I just wasn't going for it.  They were Step 1 rated, and although better than "Walmart meat", I was not about to pay the high price for Step 1.  Almost everything in life has a spectrum. There is the poor cow that lived a life in crowded feed lots, eating corn all day, never knowing what life was supposed to be like for a cow, standing in mucky urine and feces, possibly diseased, and requiring antibiotics and hormone injections to make him grow faster so he is ready for the slaughter house a whole year earlier than his free roaming, grass eating counterparts. Then there is the cow (or pig, turkey or chicken....) who gets to live life as it should, grazing on organic green pastures, so healthy there is no need for antibiotics, no need for hormones. Yes, they all have be slaughtered eventually, but it does make me feel a bit better to buy the cow who was treated humanely and slaughtered by biblical methods. Some say it is too expensive, but I always view it as, "Why would I PAY for the bottom of the barrel meat?" The burger meat at fast food places, the chicken nuggets that are more like tendons and muscle meat from chickens farmed in unsanitary conditions, the pig who was killed on the "death floor" by literally being squished to death......why would I eat this meat for FREE let alone pay for it?

So, I tell the butcher "No thank you", but try to come up with an alternative. There were some ribeye steaks in the case, 2 inches thick, bright red, and looking mighty fine. They were Step 4, for what it was worth, and from New Zealand. Ugh....well, we aren't lucky enough to have a rancher, who ranches "Beyond Organic" nearby, so we do our best with what we are dealt. In fact, the butcher told me that there are only about 4 ranches in the U.S. that have attained the 5-step rating status (I wonder if he knows about Beyond Organic). So, 2 ribeyes from New Zealand it is- for us to all share at Christmas eve dinner. They were DELICIOUS!