I realize it's beginning to sound like I eat a lot of beef. Not that there's anything wrong with it if I do, but I'm just noting that I think I come across as more carnivorous than I really am. Although I admit I am somewhat in flux.
I used to be a more or less typical meat-eater, like anyone else in our PC (the social style, not the computer) society, until someone sent me an e-mail joke. It had a lot of pairs of photographs, of George W Bush and monkeys. The joke was the similarity in the facial expressions of W and the monkey in each pair of photographs. The photographer included a comment at the end, to say that he had been accused of making the animals look bad and maybe disliking them. He pleaded innocence, and went on to include links to a few animal rights organizations, to show that he did not have antipathy toward animals. I followed a couple of the links, which led to my learning how animals are treated, especially those animals we raise to eat, and I got off eating animals, or any food that comes from them, completely. I put myself on a vegan diet, and I stayed there for a few years.
I later learned about the ranching movement that treats animals with respect and decency (read Michael Pollan, if you want to know what the conventional alternative looks like; if you do, you, too, won't eat meat), and I decided I could transition back to meat. I just had to be careful about what meat I eat, and I had to be willing to pay extra for it. And that's where I am now. Certain meat, little or no dairy.
I do stray at times, under special circumstances and only on condition that I feel self-conscious and bad about it. No-longer-Flip-Burger was an example. Also, there are places where I eat, and I know they don't use the meat I prefer. The newly defunct Ouzo's is an example of that dalliance. Last year, I took a date there (she wasn't really a date; I'm making more out of it than it was; you know who you are, you vixen; it's your loss, my love), and not only did I get the lamb shank (an amazing dish: the lamb, not my "date," although...), but I persuaded my companion to take a taste. Of the lamb shank. She herself is a vegetarian, but she was adventurous enough to give it a try. She agreed with me. See, I plead in pathetic defensiveness, I'm not the only one who strays.
So I just wanted to be clear about what I think looks like an obsession with eating meat, red meat, or at least a disregard for the animals from which it comes. Not true at all.
If you like meat, and you want to know where to get conscience-preserving and better-tasting meat, there are a few places. I already told you about Proper Sausages at 97th and NE 2nd in Miami Shores. On NE 2nd Avenue at about 72nd Street, there's a place called Gaucho Ranch. You have to know where it is; you can't see it from the street. Call them. I also send for beef from a place called La Cense Beef up in Montana. Excellent food. The prices are high, but they have lots of sales, often 50% off, which make it very accessible. Publix and Whole Foods both have sections of "organic" meats. Florida Fresh Beef used to have a stand at the one-time 125th Street farmers' market. You can find them online. It's possible they are the source of the Wagyu beef Proper Sausages sells. Bon appetit. Or, as my ex-mother-in-law might say, mangia.
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