On one hand, it looks like a hit piece for Brazil meat industry.
On the other hand, itās been a long time without eating a cut from Brazil.
On the third hand (freaky meat addict) , I sometimes do the job of the alleged slave workers. Cutting from big chunk to something edible is so satisfying.
Back to the thread title. I probably take part on it. Itās simply delicious.
Borrowed from Peach Weber: I only eat meat from happy butchers!
Iāve not eaten meat for 8 yearsā¦
Yes. Heavy meat-eating family here. Easily 5kg a week.
I spent some time looking at the impact, and decided if I was not willing to eat avocados due to the massive environmental damage, not eat strawberries grown in a greenhouse in CH, etc etc etcā¦ then I would live a very sad life.
So I eat everything.
I think thatās key. We just holidayed with some friends who over-portioned everything then were on the brink of chucking away what we didnāt eat (ābecause it will be bad tomorrowā) until I talked them into having a second night of bolognese or whatever was heading for the bin. Holy moly!
Imho the whole idea of animal suffering and making animals feel as good as you can before you kill them is a very human coping mechanism. The only consistent ideology I see here is veganism - at least they donāt eat meat at allā¦ But having to hear from some rando that heās a superior human being, because he eats Swiss meat or organic meat or whatever doesnāt make sense - but hey - I own stocks and am very glad for every āuseful idiotā paying more for their daily life than necesarry.
I personally only buy meat when itās off -25% - -50% (which is quite often) or in Germany and whether the animals have had a peacful life on a grass fed diet or were strangled with bare hands is none of my concerns. I donāt care and I also donāt beleive the guilt tripping marketing around all of this makes a real difference, outside our own self imposed human moral standards. All other intelligent carnivores toy around with their prey / food all the time (Orcas, for example).
I do however think that many people live in a fantasy rainbow lala-land and they should at least see and experience slaughtering an animal, because no, the meat doesnāt just grow in a plastic bag at Coop/Aldi, etc.
If lab grown meat ever becomes viable, I personally do think that thatād be an acceptable alternative to mass animal farming, but were not there for at least 50-100y imho.
Apparently it affects the taste and quality of the meat. Acute stress before slaughter makes your meat tough, a bit more acidic and dry.
@ShirleyNot, thatās not my only concern with traumatised meat. There is a gigantic hormonal (e.g., cortisol) dump that occurs when an animal is stressed, and I donāt want to eat that. We always made sure our animals didnāt know what was coming, and the meat was tender and tasty.
Sure, I was also hyperbolically making a pointā¦ we shouldnāt torture animals for no reason, but it canāt be so dry to make me pay Swiss full price for itā¦ I personally donāt think Swiss meat tastes better than German meat or whatever and self testing here is not very effective, as you have a cognitive bias towards valuing more expensive items higher (in order to not feel stupid to have spent more)
True, but then again, you would hope that all dispatching and meat processing facilities in Europe are a tad better than those in the article at the top of the thread.
Thatās fine, but the taste is probably your concern. Eating a proper freerange village chicken is superior to farmed organic, which is massively superior to caged, and either are light years better than that people get in the US, which is some white amorphous, tasteless mass. Or a heritage breed pig grown for at least 16 months, foraging beech nuts and acorns. On top of that, as noted already, animals which stress/are in pain before death have markedly worse-tasting, and worse-textured meat. Any competent butcher will confirm that.
On topic, I have become guilt tripped to paying more and avoiding anything not labelled at least free range, and limiting our meat consumption, trading quantity for quality. Donāt have misconceptions that weāre eating Heidiās cows, but at least weāre also (hopefully) not eating animals who can barely breathe and are forced to sit in their own shit until their feet rot.
Agree with you, the militant āmeat is murderā brigade are annoying.
Yeahā¦ and I myself just eat less meat anyway, no matter the cost. Chicken is fine I guess, but red meat isnāt particularly healthy the last time I checked (although itās questionable what risks it really has when eating it in reasonable portions).
My Grandparents used to have chickens and they did in fact taste better in my memories, but the question is: Is this just my childhood nostalgia or objective truth? Since they donāt have chickens anymroe and I canāt hold them in my condo, Iāll probably never knowā¦
My grandma too, it could well be part nostalgia, however you can still get a proper freerange animal and taste the difference yourself. You donāt even need to taste, the meat is dark, firm, leaner, less watery and also doesnāt produce much liquid when you cook it. My wife has a theory that most meats we eat have water injected to them to sell for more. I tell her I disagree on the principle that itād be cheating consumers to sell water for the price of meat, but canāt disagree with roasting a chicken at home and having 1cm of liquid in the tray. Then again you can add potatoes to the tray, and you get chicken roast potatoes in one go 
In my experience, even with discounter German chicken, the main reason meat loses juices is the fact that one fries it straight from the fridge. I always take my meat out earlier if I can, at least 1-2h, never had this problem.
In fact, I actually think that especially German chicken breasts are much more juicy than the ones I can get hereā¦
Iāve spent most of my adult life working with domestic animal welfare issues so I try to be consistent when making choices that involve livestock animal welfare.
Yes, the animal ultimately ends up on a plate, or itās eggs in a basket, or itās milk in our cheese, but to dismiss how an animal is raised and treated is wrong. Or willful blindness. If you can do better, you should. Simple as that.
In Switzerland itās not difficult, nor really more expensive, to eat meat, eggs, dairy sourced from farmers who follow animal welfare ābest practicesā.
Iām not even that far out āauf dem Landā, still technically in the greater metro area, yet I can get my meat, eggs, and dairy from farmers I know, whose animals I see daily on my walks.
I am not a vegetarian, but I prefer to eat meatless meals, getting most of my animal protein from eggs. OH is a carnivore, but even he has cut way down on meat consumption. He has meat two or three meals a week rather than daily. I cook so that meat is a flavoring rather than a main ingredient - and neither of us feel deprived.
Granted, my approach is not perfect - but neither is it performative, or inconsistent. I simply try to do my best when making choices involving livestock animals. Just as in my domestic animal welfare work, I know one person canāt make it all better - but one person can try to make things a little bit better for a few critters.
And every little helps.
On the other hand
With this I disagree. I actively avoid UPF if I can, and if my choice is a steak of dubious āupbringingā vs a vegan āI cannot believe itās not steakā type stuff, Iāll go for the low quality steak any day. (and keep in mind, I grew up in a strong vegetarian family). I live vegetables, fruits, etcā¦ I just refuse to each chick peas that have been tortured to vaguely resemble a steak through some wonderful chemical process.
By that standard, I will follow the Italians and stay away from lab-grown meat.
One thing I never see is - for all those saying animals suffer in farms; why arenāt we hunting more? Wild animals live free, and then bang, they taste goodā¦
Agree about lab grown āmeatā. It makes no sense - economically or from a nutrition point of view. Fake meat products are going to die out as people realise that veges can taste just as good without having to pretend they are meat-like. The problem seems to be naming. What else should one call a vegetarian sausage?
Itās the freshness and the breed of chickens. I suspect that farmed chickens are probably scientifically min-maxed to get something that survives the factory chicken-hellscape while yielding max kg/$, rather than to generate meat that tastes well.
Plus it is tastes different if it is fresh and for this reason people still buy chickens alive.