Meat
Moe Albanese is the last butcher standing in New York’s Little Italy. His father, Vincenzo, was a butcher from Polizzi Generosa, in Sicily. Moe’s mother, Mary, also of Sicilian descent, could speak some English.
“My father said to her, ‘You ask the customers what they want and I’ll cut the meat’,” says Moe, who was delivered by midwives at a home birth on this same block in 1925 and has never left the area.
Albanese Meats & Poultry on Elizabeth St is a relic of New York. It is now being crowded out by snappy boutiques and, just to the south, by Chinatown.
Continue reading "American story: meat the last butcher in Little Italy" »
Okay, so Australians love meat. We also love BBQs and Australia Day. Mostly because it means we don’t have to go to work. But could this be the worst advertisement for meat you have ever seen?
Or just a very clever way of getting us to think about what we’re slapping on the BBQ on January 26th?
We’re talking about the Sam Kekovic/ v Melissa Tkautz v Justice Crew Australia Day 2012 video. If you haven’t seen it yet, then watch it up the top here.
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kegaro says:
I’m probably being a bit sheepish ... but ... when did lamb start costing an arm and a leg? ... sorry ... and when did the advertised “lamb chops” start looking more like sheep chops. Remember hogget and two-tooth? When you had a choice as to the age of the… Read more »
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ago says:
to all the fun stoppers who dont like this add lighten up its a parody, a piss take, its meant to be laughed at, and laughed with stop whinging and moaning and have a laugh my fav. bit is old mate spinnind the plates as a turntable Read more »
Watch out for that Christmas ham this Sunday. It might be out to get you.
A report out yesterday revealed that an embarrassing number of Kiwis (ie, several) filed insurance claims for ham-based injuries last Christmas. There were a number of carving mishaps and burns, knee and neck strains and even a crushed finger.
It’s Wednesday. What’s on your mind, folks?
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NESLIHAN KUROSAWA says:
Hi there, Thanks for all your replies! I only have one question for you all, “are you trying to say that vegetarians are not as intelligent & not able to do things for themselves”? It is just a misconception, if you ask for my personal opinion. I do have a… Read more »
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Simonfromlakemba says:
Could be worse fairsfair..raised in canberra, supports labor and defends muslims on the punch not a popular combo. When people call others names its generally because they have lost the argument or being a keyboard warrior. Read more »
Here’s a new way to think about what you’re eating every day.
Next time you’re standing in front of the fridge, pull out the most processed item you own and make a call to the manufacturing company that produce it. Ask them if you can come around and take a look at the factory, and see how they do things.
If they agree, prepare to be horrified, says Jonathan Safran Foer.
Continue reading "Flexitarian: it’s vegetarianism for meat eaters" »
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Direct says:
Blatant lie. Small LDL particles, is the major cause of coronary atherosclerosis (heart disease), only occur genetically or as a byproduct of processing carbohydrates. Read more »
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Sharon says:
Thanks Lucy, you are right that eating less meat can make a difference - to the environment, our health and to the animals (Australia alone breeds and slaughters over 500 MILLION every year!). It’s all about choosing to do less harm. There’s plenty of highly credible research info, nutrition guidelines… Read more »
BBQs are an excuse to feast on too much flesh. But sometimes, the carnivorous offerings at said gatherings are less than they might be.
There really is nothing worse than turning up at a barbie to find cardboard sausages from Woolies, boring old chops and no condiment other than tomato sauce.
This is not to subscribe to the growing cult of food wankerism. It’s just to say that a BBQ should be an excuse to blacken some quality meat cuts, rather than an event where the worst meat imaginable is cooked outdoors. There’s more to it than that.
Continue reading "Friday dilemma: is it rude to take my own meat to a BBQ?" »
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xander says:
I bet you wear leather boots, belts and handbags. Most vegetarians do. happy to lkill for fashion but not food huh? mmm… So maybe keep your own judgemental hypocrisy in check yeah? Or maybe campaign against those cruel misaligned tigers killing innocent deer? omnivores are known as ‘natural’ and our… Read more »
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xander says:
Rude NOT to!!! Beast slabs are bloody pricey. And I dont think people understand the term medium rare anymore to boot… Read more »
It’s interesting, isn’t it, that the general public finds itself dismayed and outraged about our live export industry, which transports our happy, healthy cows to deepest darkest Asia to meet a cruel and violent death, at the same time as our government is preparing to transport our refugees to the very same region and it’s only the Greens and the usual bleeding-heart refo activists that are arcing up.
This week, we heard Senator Sarah Hanson-Young hopes to thwart the Government’s plan to send refugees to Malaysia – where refugee treatment includes the occasional caning – by introducing an amendment to the Migration Act that will oblige Julia Gillard to seek the Parliament’s permission before sending refugees to a third country.
The opposition will support Hanson-Young out of sheer contrarianism rather than concern for human rights. But she’ll take her support where she can get it, since the tens of thousands who signed online petitions and wrote to their local members begging them to save our cows don’t seem to have much compassion left over for the human cargo.
Continue reading "Meat to please you, not so pleased to meet you" »
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Sharon says:
CHOOSE to do less harm .... it’s that simple. Most of us would surely prefer to inflict less suffering and pain on others - human or non-human. So just do it, please. Read more »
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Slippery says:
Reading back through this I realise how misinformed most greenies are. You all carry on about how it’s wrong to kill an animal but you couldn’t live your life the way it is without someone doing your dirty work. The hilarious fact is you are all using or at least… Read more »
According to Bob Katter on ABC’s Q&A last Monday night, stopping the live export of cattle to Indonesia would add three million people to the 80 million Indonesians who currently go to bed hungry. According to Katter, stopping the trade was cutting off the protein food supply to three million people. Nobody disputed this.
Katter blamed Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) for not fixing the cruelty problem. He asserted that the cattle producers who had phoned and abused him didn’t know their animals were being treated this way.
It’s a pity we don’t have the equivalent of a driving test for politicians. Something to verify that they have basic numeracy skills before they can stand for Parliament. I’m not too concerned about literasy, what harm duz a few misspelled wurds do anyway? But get the numbers wrong and all kinds of stupid decisions are made.
Continue reading "Katter can’t count, but there are meatier issues at stake" »
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Phil says:
Katter is most vocal and visible of all our poli-rednecks. His populist drivel plays well in the boondocks and the shock jock airwaves. The twanging of banjos in the background is a death knell for civilized behavior and enlightened thought. I think I have discovered a new noun. Katterish. A… Read more »
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Shifter says:
You don’t need to be intelligent to be popular, which is all it takes to be elected. Once you’re there you have the platform to spread your unintelligence everywhere, and watch as the bogan masses lap it up. Such are the failings of democracy in Australia. Read more »
The recent revelation that new Climate Commissioner Tim Flannery has a contract with Meat and Livestock Australia shouldn’t be a surprise to anybody who read his 2008 Quarterly Essay Now or Never: A sustainable future for Australia.
But I think both the relationship and the essay demonstrate that Flannery is not the right person for the job.
Flannery’s advocacy in Now or Never of abundant meat as the answer to global food problems is like suggesting private jets to solve transportation problems.
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Eduardo Vargas says:
I completely disagree with this article Read more »
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MarieMarie says:
You need to grow your own food and understand permaculture before you give an opinion. why? because veganism relies on fossil fuels which are not sustainable. Read more »
We like to think of ourselves as a nation of animal lovers.
We bay for blood when a woman throws a cat in a bin in the UK, or a team of huskies is massacred in Canada, and are brought to tears when a Queensland hero risks his life in the floods to save a kangaroo from drowning.
Yet every single day there are stories in the shadows we miss.
Continue reading "We can all love animals without being weird about it" »
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Janette says:
Here’s a thought to help cattle farmers still make a living if they ban live export, for people who like to eat meat, to buy their own cow or lamb and slaughter it when the need arises that way it will keep a lot of individuals happy. But I wonder… Read more »
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Claudia says:
This is awesome Read more »
I am not a vegetarian. But I’m trying to be one because the killing of animals bothers me.
As a city-bred child the first time I saw an animal being slaughtered was while seeing the film Apocalypse Now, and I had trouble coping with watching something die. “At what exact point did its life end?”, I remember thinking.
It was the final scene in the Cambodian jungle, the setting for insanity and hell, when the poor cow was hacked gradually to death by a slight man with a machete. The initial impact was a mere tap. The cow wobbles a little, its legs faltering. The second and third strikes open up the back of its neck revealing the spine and a translucent red, and the legs give way to the huge dying mass above them.
Continue reading "WARNING: This could turn you vegetarian" »
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KJB says:
I wish I could fathom a response to justify the pure anger towards those a) making this a joke b) proudly eating meat. Vegetarian, healthier than ever and guess what - I AM morally superior than you. I am better than you, because I don’t torture and murder anything to… Read more »
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Tania says:
There are plenty of great examples of vegan/vegetarian athletes out there and many people who quietly go about their daily vegetarian lives. To become vegetarian or vegan is to face the truth…killing non human animals for food/clothing, sport or experimentation is morally/ethically wrong. No matter if you kill the animal… Read more »
People are discovering that food costs are soaring, electricity and government charges including water charges are on the increase and many families are needing to find savings in the family budget.
If recent reports by the United Nations are any indication then the savings can come from this unexpected phenomenon.
The worlwide non-profit initiative to promote Meatless Mondays and Fishless Fridays is encouraging the voluntary rationing of certain foods. This is not new as rationing was common practice during both World Wars.
Continue reading "Enough with all the meat eating all ready" »
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Earth says:
I like the raw foods diet. Well, I do after finding a video recipe on YouTube - ‘Raw Foods Diet 1 - Wombat Kitchen’. Now that’s enough to make you want a cow. Read more »
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Ronk says:
Not me, it’s always brown when I eat it every day (sometimes twice a day). Read more »
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