About The Project

Meat does not originate shrink-wrapped to styrofoam in a supermarket.

When we eat meat, an animal dies.

I’m not here to debate the morality of that point. Humans are omnivores, and meat – including beef – can be a healthy part of a balanced diet. Our bodies are beautifully adapted to derive nutrition from other animals, and their death is a necessary part of that transaction.

But I believe that it isn’t a transaction we should take for granted. We shouldn’t tacitly accept that the rest of the ecosphere exists solely for the nutrition and comfort of humans.

With this project, I’m attempting to maximize both sides of the equation.

I changed my beef source from grain-fed supermarket beef to grass-fed beef purchased directly from the rancher. I’m heartened to know that my particular steer had the highest quality of life possible. He lived his entire life in the fields where he was born, eating the wild grasses his physiology is designed for. He wasn’t fed grain, which is efficient, but unnatural to his physiology. He wasn’t given antibiotics. He wasn’t given growth hormones. He wasn’t confined to a feed lot.

On the other side of the equation, I’m trying to optimize the meat that animal provided. I purchased the whole steer, not just the convenient parts. Steaks, roasts, tail, heart, tongue, bones… I took home everything I was allowed to have. I intend to make the best possible use of each cut and fragment. I intend to share remarkable meals with friends and loved ones. I intend to push my culinary skills. I intend to make the absolute most out of the animal that died to feed my family. And I’m going to do my best to not make the same recipe twice.

It’s a big challenge. I’m not a trained chef, but I’m an enthusiastic amateur. I’m not a biologist or a rancher, but I’m no stranger to the sciences. I’m just a guy who asks a lot of questions, and wants to know where his food comes from. And intends to make the most out of meal times.

So that’s it. One man, one steer, one year of remarkable meals.

To see where my steer came from, start here.

To follow the project from the beginning, start here.