Meat Your Butcher: The Craft of Cutting Meat

With the rise in sustainable, craft, and local food movements, are the people behind the food, like meat, valued more than in the past?

Meat in the U.S. has had a complicated history which in recent years has spurred on the resurgence of interest in whole animal butchery and neighborhood butcher shops. But even as meat prices have risen, how have the people working behind the counter been affected?

In this episode, we speak with 2 butchers who have had very different careers within the world of butchery. There’s Edgar (he/him), whose career includes 20 years at Texas Roadhouse and 5 at Belcampo Meat Co. Then there’s HJ (they/them), who has worked all over the country including Blue Hill at Stone Barns, The Meat Hook in Brooklyn, and now co-owns Pasture PDX, a small craft butcher shop, in Portland, OR with their business partner Kei.

Guests: 

HJ Schaible (they/them)

Their website  |  Instagram 

Edgar Cisneros (he/him)

Instagram 

Resources: 

To read more about what we talked about in this episode: 

• The price of plenty: how beef changed America

• Whole Animal Butchery: The Growth, the Problems, and the Future

• Chef’s Fable: Blue Hill at Stone Barns’ alluring story — that a fine dining restaurant could be a model for changing the world — seduced diners, would-be employees, and thought leaders alike. But former employees say that narrative often obscured a more complicated reality.

• After sourcing scandal, Belcampo Meat Co. abruptly closes stores, restaurants

• Former sustainable meat darling Belcampo suddenly shuts down all operations: The news follows a summer controversy over mislabeling meats

• The Instagram thread of the employee who called Belcampo out

This episode is supported by BentoBox and Clover. To learn more about their all-in-one platform for websites, online ordering, world-class point-of-sale, and payment solutions, check out getbento.com/better.