Become a Sustainavore!

Eat for your health, the planet, and your values.

Become a Sustainavore!

Eat for your health, the planet, and your values.

Women and Meat

This weekend in Boston, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics held it’s annual conference. As a dietitian, I was sent a few special invitations to attend receptions and visit booths. Nestle wanted me to attend their “sustainable nutrition” reception so they could tell me all about their tube feeding products, and Monsanto wanted me to stop by their booth to talk with a local farmer about how Monsanto’s role in sustainable agriculture. I’m not kidding.

img_7226

Instead of heading east into Boston, I drove an hour west, to Harvard Forest, to attend the Women in Meat Northeast Conference. In my opinion, this was a much better use of my time and money. The event was organized by Edith Murnane, head of The League of Women in Meat, and featured female Kari Underly, a third-generation butcher and author of the Art of Beef Cutting which was nominated for a James Beard Foundation Award. The goal of the event was to develop skills, knowledge and network for women in meat industries. There were about 40 women of all ages in attendance. Most of them were small farmers or worked as butchers in New England.

I’m going to back up for just a second, to give you some context. Because, even though I’m interested in the nutrition of meat, I’m particularly excited for more women to enter this field. When I was 21 and had just graduated from college with a degree in Art Education, I knew I wasn’t interested in becoming an art teacher in a school setting. I wasn’t sure what I did want to do. I did know that I wanted to be an expert in something, and that I wanted to work with my hands to make things. Obsessed with the idea of functional, fine crafts and wanting making most of my own everyday items (plates, silverware, glass, etc.,) I decided to enroll in a furniture making program. I feel that there are a lot of similarities between furniture making and butchery. Both are skills not generally taught in college, and both are heavily male dominated and can be intimidating for women to break into. Using the machine shop initially made me nervous, and there were some men who thought it was very “cute” that I could make a set of dovetails and knew how to use a hand plane. Even though I am not a full time artist, I still work do some photography, oil painting and cooking, which I also consider an “art,” and I’m dying to learn glass blowing. I can imagine that my experience as a young woman learning how to make fine furniture was not very different from many young women today looking to learn more about the meat business. It’s a topic that I’ve been interested in for a while, and even led me to help produce this short film about Mary Lake, a female butcher from Vermont.

Soft Slaughter | 2015 Real Food Media Contest Winner from Real Food Media on Vimeo.

We met at noon for a quick lunch and then headed over to Stillman’s Quality Meats on-site abattoir. I was lucky enough to ride with Kate Stillman, the owner. She’s my age and is the single mother of two kids, runs the whole show, and is a complete badass. She told me all about her issues finding and keeping skilled labor, how stressful Thanksgiving can be (turkeys), and how grateful she is for her customers. They’ve now become her “community,” bringing her coffee, entertaining her kids, and taking her out for an occasional glass of wine after a particularly long day. She drives two hours each way to attend farmers markets all over the Boston area to sell her meat, which she gets a good price for. Sometimes, she said, people will freak out at her prices. For example, Kate charges $25 per chicken, or two for $40. The average retail price for whole chicken is less than $1.50 per pound. She welcomes the sticker shock as an opportunity to have an honest discussion about the artificially cheap price of meat, and how she needs to send her kids to school. Kate has built a dedicated following, largely, I suspect, because of her no-nonsence charm and honesty. Three years ago, Kate invested in her own abattoir, in order to have more control over how her animals were butchered. She picks up the carcasses at the slaughterhouse and brings them back to her farm to be broken down exactly the way she wants. This saves her the headache of the slaughterhouse not doing it the way she wants, and customers are able to order specific cuts.

img_7640

Once we were at the abattoir, Kari led us during the butchery demo. She was incredibly warm and made lots of jokes as she took us through the major muscle groups of a cow. Volunteers from the group were encouraged to test their sawing and knife skills to break down the large primals into steaks. I was so surprised at how many different cuts I had never heard of before. I’ve never seen tomahawk, cowboy or merlot steaks at Whole Foods before. I asked Kari why most people are only familiar with the basics, like rib eyes and sirloins. She said that it’s because large retailers only buy meat by the “box,” so they are requesting the cuts they know will sell. What happens to the other cuts? Well they get ground or sent oversees to markets that want them, unless it’s a “whole animal butchery,” meaning they try to sell all of the cuts. Kari also encouraged attendees to try to sell customers more bones with the cuts, like brisket. Bones are hard to sell, but can add a lot of flavor to the meat, and it means more money for the butcher.

img_7624

In the evening, we headed back to Harvard Forest for dinner. While the crew was preparing some of the different cuts we learned about earlier, I got to chat with a handful of women. We talked about the challenges of farm life, and having little privacy from customers, and also discussed some other talented women farmers who have brilliant marketing ideas, like Floret Flowers, a very small cut flower farm that seems to have exploded through a brilliant workshop business (check out her amazing Instagram feed, which is one of my favorites!)  At dinner, we tasted different cuts and also tasted the difference between grass-fed and corn-finished steaks, and also enjoyed produce sourced largely from women-owned businesses. The event is continuing today, where the group will learn about developing a HACCP plan, how to break down a pig, and how to develop products like charcuterie and bone broth. I needed to get back to work so I drove home Sunday night, but am so impressed with the quality of the event that I’m wishing I stayed. We even got cool goodie bags including a boning knife, meat cutting glove and scraper.

img_7676

I thought that this event could spark a larger conversation about women’s relationship with meat. Many of my nutrition clients are women who feel that eating meat should be done in moderation or not at all. It’s so interesting to me how food intake is somewhat of a religion or moral decision. Is it more “pure” to eat only vegetables? I think there are so many messages telling women that it’s better to look skinny and weak instead of strong, and that eating meat is evil. When you think of a big steak, do you picture a petite woman or a big cowboy? Why do I see these “clean” cookbooks feature chicken and fish but not red meat? Is it because red meat is “bloody looking?” Do women need to control our “natural” side by restraining our desires in all ways, including our desire to eat meat? Does that make us more pure? I’ve actually seen a few vegetarian and vegan sites say that women can only truly be feminists if they don’t eat animals. Is this true or completely disconnected from who we are as omnivores? I talked more about this with Anya Fernald, CEO of Belcampo Meats on my podcast.

I love working with women to teach them about the importance of eating meat, because in most cases, if you can help women understand good nutrition, you’ve fixed the whole household.  Iron deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiency, with prevalence highest among young children and women of childbearing age, particularly pregnant women. We’re not going to fix this with more salads. We need to let women know that it’s ok to eat meat. Red meat has gotten such a bad reputation, but meat is an incredibly nutrient-dense food. It’s also not the environmental disaster that many are claiming. I write about this more here.

I’m happy to say that when I returned home, I found out my 10yr old daughter cooked dinner for the family, completely on her own. I’m proud of her independence, strength, and understanding of how nature works. Let’s start talking more about why women need to embrace meat and let’s teach our daughters not only to love their bodies, but to how cook real food instead of baking cookies and cupcakes.

Want do donate to the League of Women in Meat? Click here.

Love the idea? Hate it? Tell me! What are your thoughts on women and their relationship with meat?

 

 

 

 

My posts may contain affiliate links, which means you don’t pay any more, but I may make a small commission, which helps me continue to bring you great new posts. Read my full disclosure/disclaimer here.

Enjoy This Post? Share It With Friends!

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Pinterest

11 thoughts on “Women and Meat”

  1. Diana,
    I love your posts about eating meat. And I think your spot on with how women in our culture/society are taught to think about eating red meat…it’s indulgent, not for women, or not feminine. And I agree that our society notoriously has upheld that petite and slim are to be glorified. Yet what about strong women? Aren’t they to be glorified…aren’t they making changes in the way women are thought of and considered and capable of?
    Keep em coming!!!

  2. Diana, I love this! Sounds like my kind of event!
    I wrote a blog post about this a while back — about food puritanism and the backlash against low-carb diets, particularly with regard to the consumption of fatty meat, and even more particularly with regard to *women* consuming fatty meat. (http://www.tuitnutrition.com/2015/06/ftf-food-prudes-low-carb-backlash.html)

    Like you’ve said here, there’s such a stigma out there – like it somehow, at some point, became un-ladlylike, or unfeminine for a grown adult female Homo sapiens to eat a food that is so high in all the things she needs to be healthy and to reproduce and keep the human race going in a healthy manner — like you said, iron, B12, CoQ10, omega-03s, zinc, great quality protein — so many of the things *sooo* many women (especially younger women) are deficient in. We have really reached a point, sadly, where women are somehow supposed to be satiated by 2 ounces of skinless chicken and a bunch of iceberg lettuce leaves. No wonder antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications are among the most frequently prescribed pills… Why is this a mystery to anyone?

    How refreshing to see a group of women interested in butchering — definitely traditional a male domain/profession, but not for any other reason than “that’s how it’s always been done” — no reason a woman can’t be just as knowledgeable and skilled at it. Thanks for all your work on the realities of eating meat, sustainable animal husbandry, etc.

  3. Love this post! I shared it on FB. I grew up raising, hunting, and growing our own food. There is a huge disconnect between people and their food. I’ve found myself saying a few times recently….”where do you think that came from?”…..”your chicken, steak, whatever….had a face and was probably “cute” at one time”. I’m a big meat, beef, bison lover….I do everything possible to source it responsibility and I’m pleased to be a financial supporter of the ranchers and farmers doing things the right and sustainable ways. I think maybe some women’s meat aversion might originally stem from low stomach acid, then they think….well I don’t digest it well so it probably isn’t good for me to eat, and then it snow-balls from there…. either way…. most men I know (I live in Texas though) think that there is nothing sexier than a woman eating a steak. 🙂

  4. Diana -great post. I’m one of those women who doesn’t feel any shame or guilt about my regularly red meat consumption. I know the huge impact it has on my health by assisting managing symptoms of my genetic illness, and I feel great knowing I have the knowledge to create my own health. Thankyou for sharing this post, its so important for women to come to terms this issue which probably has little to do with red meat (as you explained).

  5. Diana, It was a pleasure to meet you last weekend at the Women in Meat Conference! I loved meeting everyone from so many different backgrounds/roles in the meat business. You bring up a great point here, not only is it not the norm for women to be involved in butchery but as a society, women are generally discouraged from eating meat (have the salad or veggie burger instead). My husband and I raise lamb and beef, for ourselves and for other families. Red meat is so nutrient-dense and satisfying and I love being a part of bringing it to our customers. I’m also a distance runner and I know there’s no way I can run my best and keep up with a busy life on a meatless diet. Protein is a huge nutrient of focus for me, everything centers around my protein source. If I start my day with anything else, I’m starving 2 hours later. I’m looking forward to hearing what the continued discussions are around women in the meat business as well as the role of meat in the diet of women! Thank you for being a part of this discussion, Diana!

  6. Interesting article. I have always been a big fan of “M. Feller, Son & Daughter”, organic butcher in Oxford’s covered market in England. You often see the daughter working there.

  7. So, I am late to the party, as usual, but I wanted to thank you for this post, and for everything else you do. I’ve been following nutritional information and science for over 4 years now and it’s been quite a journey. For someone like me, it can be hard to separate the real deals from the shillers and hawkers. I believe you are the real deal.

    I was so hesitant to hit the play button on the video, but I trusted that it would not be disturbing. I eat meat, I thrive on meat, but I also know that something had to die to nourish me and I do love animals. A lot. Over the course of my journey, I’ve learned to embrace the spiritual side of eating meat….the real meaning of why we give thanks to something (for me, it is the Creator) before eating. And I’ve also realized the sin of allowing leftover meat to go bad and throwing it away, and I ask for forgiveness when it happens (doesn’t happen often).

    I rarely buy meat at grocery stores, even the likes of Whole Foods. I know the man who raises most of my meat on a first name basis and his philosophy on animal husbandry. He’s a real deal too. Unfortunately he’s going into semi-retirement and unfortunately, he doesn’t have a whole lot of competition, especially when it comes to pork. I live in Texas and while you would think I’d have easy access to quality meat, the real deal quality, so much of the animal-raising around here is conventional. The demand is just not there. People would rather spend big chunks of their incomes on homes bigger than they need, fancy cars, and so many other elaborate lifestyle choices. To them food should be cheap. They just don’t get it.

    Thank you for keeping it real. 🙂

  8. Yes, meat has become an ugly word. People, i.e. women, look at you askance when you declare yourself an avid beef eater, or gasp when you order an entrecôte in a restaurant. It is quasi-religious. There is the usual Incredulity that you are not concerned about your cholesterol, and they assume that you don’t care about the planet or the fate of the animals. All this while they carry leather bags, wear leather shoes and jackets etc. And of course popular culture has provided us with neat labels like pescatarian, flexitarian, – is there such a thing as white-chicken-breastian – to satisfy their need to announce their abhorrence of beef. Even in France this attitude is taking hold! I despair.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Articles

Stay Up To Date

Join 60,000+ advocates just like you!

Stay Up To Date

Join 60,000+ advocates just like you!

Scroll to Top

Sign Up for my newsletter Below, and You'll Receive Instant access to all my Free Monthly Downloads!