"The farmer gets $5 a kilo. You pay $69"

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/the-farmer-gets-5-a-kilo-you-pay-69

This interesting article illustrates the point that I am trying to make. Good quality meat is produced at a reasonable price but the supply chain swallows up the value.

I assume that the butcher in Surry Hills knows where his meat comes from because he could not get away with charging this price if it was not good. I bet it is just as good as the meat that I now pay $15 a kilo to have delivered to my door. See my ever growing list of suppliers here.

Conversely I have paid $15-$20 a kilo in supermarkets for tough as old boots misery ridden meat.

I have of course paid similar amounts for lovely meat from the supermarket but the animals may or may not have had a reasonable quality of life and who knows what chemicals and hormones were used in the production. It is a lottery.

My long term plan is to lobby government to make changes to labeling so that the consumer knows all this information and can make purchasing choices. As the articles states all this information is available. All farmers must fill out detailed information about what they feed the animals, the age of the beast, the medications used. If we could also see this information then we would know what we are buying and the prices would become more standardised.

Two more beef farm visits

After nine hours of driving today I have two more farms to add to my list of recommended CICO suppliers. I must remember that country people wave at you when driving. I felt like such a city slicker when my initial reaction was that something was wrong and I felt rude that I missed my opportunity to wave back.

ALEX & CHRISTINE'S FARM

First stop Alex and Christine's farm in Alberton West. Christine cooked an amazing lunch but I assure you that this has not clouded my judgement. Alex and Christine have 5 children and at last count 16 grand children so it is in their best interests to produce healthy natural meat for the family.

See the happy and content cows in my pictures here.

Alex and Christine satisfy the all of the CICO criteria. They hand pull weeds from their property and are very proud of eliminating the thistle infestation that they inherited when they bought the farm. The cows are fat and healthy and like all the CICO cows are grass fed.

To purchase meat from Alex and Christine please call Alex on 0431 158 638. They will have a webpage shortly. They will only sell half and whole sides presently but they can do this for a good price and can customise your order to suit the number of people sharing the pack or make steaks to your required thickness.

FAMILY FARMED MEATS

The next farm is Family Farmed Meats in Fulham near Sale. Belinda's family have been on their land for 5 generations. They are particularly passionate about natural chemical free meat production because they sadly lost their father to cancer recently.

Belinda is obviously knowledgeable about cattle and feeds only grass, hay and controlled lucerne. She has a business savvy and has taken the family business to new heights with a great website, publicising the fact that the meat is free range, grass fed and chemical free and supplying meat directly to public through delivery and farmer's markets.

You can visit the website www.familyfarmedmeats.com for information on ordering and farmer's markets. Belinda is looking to expand to lamb and also does pre-cooked meals. I only have a couple of photos as it was getting late in the day and the light was fading but Belinda has lovely photos on her website for a better idea.

Nose to Tail Eating on Masterchef

I was delighted to see the episode on Masterchef featuring the amazing Fergus Henderson. Henderson is the chef who popularised the term 'nose to tail eating' which I have referred to before without realising this association.

You can watch the episode here.

The episode featured, fried pig's tails, stuffed pig's trotters and pig's head terrine which sound terrible but taste wonderful.

Fergus is not a trained chef he simply learnt the art of cooking from his parents. He opened the acclaimed and lauded restaurant, St John's in London and is famous for his use of the whole animal. I just love this quote from him...

"if you're going to kill the animal it seems only polite to use the whole thing"

I think that we should all keep this in mind when making food choices. I know we all have our favourite cuts of meat but with a little imagination and effort other cuts of meat can also be equally delicious.

For help with how to use more of the beast have a look at Fergus' famous book Whole Beast - Nose to Tail Eating available at Borders and other book stores. I also found it at my local library.