Tender N Tastes Good
Steak could be better.
There isn’t a food source that’s been more simplified than beef. According to Anibal Pordomingo, Argentine grassfed beef guru, American consumers primarily seek two variables in the meats aisle: tenderness and consistency. Both have been mastered and delivered by the beef industry en masse at the expense of every other variable. Now beef farmers are trained to think narrowly and consumers are trained to be unforgiving when they encounter deviations from the norm. Rigid buying patterns created the beef landscape we have today: It’s so available and unimaginative that young generations associate a steak with careless and wasteful consumption.
For every action there is a reaction. Some people respond to boring beef by polluting themselves with ‘alt-food’. Others are choosing nutritional enlightenment by seeking the origin of beef: specialty, small-batch beef that is beyond description. Thus, the greatest potential for a food revolution lies in the chucks, ribs, loins, and rumps of beef cattle across the country.
To find beef’s Holy Grail, the production, marketing, and consumption playbook needs rewritten. This will be a group effort.
Imagine a shopping trip to the farm: “We’re having guests over for a tasting. I’ll take a t-bone from the 2 year old grassfed Canadienne heifer, another from the yearling Holstein/Angus cross steer that was fattened on corn, and one more from the six year old Devon cow raised on grass and fattened on barley for a summer.” At home, the cooked steaks are placed ceremoniously in the center of the table and guests attack with ravenous intrigue. The steaks are appreciated for their differences. Nobody spits out a forkful and deems the lot unfit for the dog. This is the stuff I dream about.
Of course, we’re still some distance from my fantasy scenario becoming reality, but we’ve proven that the potential does exist.
For example, customers at our farm store are presented with options they have never experienced in one location: grainfed beef (corn) and 100% grassfed beef, both raised on the property. When grassfed became available, I assumed people would be delighted to have options in steak. On the contrary, patrons are discomfited as they try to make buying decisions, often floundering through a burst of auditory confusion before defaulting to familiar cuts they’ve always purchased. “What’s the difference? Why should I want to change?“ are the most common retorts to grassfed prompting.
Obviously, something’s a bit off.
Beef needs a microbrewery mentality. Guests travel to brewpubs excited to taste a range of different beer styles. Another example: cheese connoisseurs take pride in different flavors from ageing, region, and milk found in their curds. Consumers’ enchantment with wine selection is another perfect model to study. In all cases, customers expect to be presented with variety and are thrilled to find something new. Applying these expectations to beef is the key. I want people traveling to visit our farm store because they know they’ll have steak options and they want to try them.
A microbeef mentality is forming as people catch the vision. Once initial confusion wears off, our customers start asking questions and a whole new dialog is created that never would’ve occurred with narrow minded beef sales. Today on our farm we have an army of eaters who are primed for a diverse and exciting beef future.
We’re led to an unavoidable question: if the results are so favorable, why is it so difficult to change consumer perception?
Too many people have had horrible beef experiences when they deviate from the grocery store and they don’t want to re-live the experience.
Many cattle raised in small herds are wasted because management is still producing beef for a boring commodity market in which they never meet the end user. Cattle supervision consists exclusively of rudimentary tasks that serve to keep animals living long enough to sell. This process focuses on keeping an animal alive, not making it taste delicious, so the end product remains mediocre from generation to generation.
A good farmer, on the contrary, will spend time understanding the complexities of steak, and then work backwards to apply the knowledge throughout the life of the steer. Here is an entirely different approach to farming that mandates depth and breadth of knowledge and skill to yield favorable results.
None of the farm knowledge is useful if consumers don’t understand why they taste what they taste. Insufficient familiarity with farming practices, cattle breeds, feed types, and other ecological factors stifles consumers’ ability to enjoy a cut of beef. Non-farming customers cannot fully understand production if they’re never allowed on the farm to see what is happening.
In other words, the whole process hinges on both the farmer and the consumer sharing similar knowledge of steak. This is perhaps the greatest argument in favor of strong farmer-consumer relationships. I told you this is a group effort…
Our challenge aims to create something where nothing existed before. I envision seminars on our farm that bring farmers and non-farmers together to eat steak and learn about flavors. Imagine the possibilities! With sufficient effort, we could craft beef that rivals in appeal the Kobe of Japan. That’s what I want to raise: craveable beef people hear about in gustatory stories told the world over.
Do you think people will be interested? Or is everyone simply looking for meat that’s tender ‘n tastes good?