“I really love your meat,” was a common phrase overheard at last Friday’s Fair Food Fight Night. Out of place–or at least inappropriate–at any other venue, these kind words could have been meant for several guests at what was the largest, and best-attended Fight Night yet. The space at the Rau + Barber building was packed with local foodies, chefs, farmers and even the vice-president of a slaughterhouse. The night was filled with good conversation, great food and awkward dancing.
The highlight of the night was the panel discussion of animal welfare moderated by Stephanie March (though some may argue it was the ice cream whipped up by Corner Table chef Scott Pampuch). On the panel were Todd Churchill of Thousand Hills Cattle Company, Emily Zweber of Zweber Farms and Arion Thiboumery from Lorentz Meats. A scheduled fourth panel member from the animal right’s group Mercy for Animals could not attend. While it’s safe to say everyone on the panel was in agreement about what animal welfare should look like, and the fight wasn’t exactly fair, the discussion was still thought-provoking and interesting.
A Wendell Berry quote, on which Lorentz Meats bases its business, quickly became the theme of the night. The quote
“We cannot live harmlessly at our own expense; we depend on other creatures and survive by their deaths. To live, we must daily break the body and shed the blood of Creation. The point is, when we do this knowingly, lovingly, skillfully, reverently, it is a sacrament; when we do it ignorantly, greedily, clumsily, destructively, it is a desecration”
is somber, and chilling The crowd quieted as it was read and the meaning of the words sank in. Everyone on the panel, and others in the room, nodded approvingly.
Churchill began by saying the vision of a healthy animal differs from farmer to farmer. “Ask any farmer,” he said, “if his animals are healthy and he’ll say yes, fully believing that they are. But the fact is they don’t really know what a healthy cow looks like.” Those animals may very well be healthy when viewed in terms of public health or other metrics, but Churchill made it clear that his version of a healthy cow is not the same as many others in the beef business. A cow that never steps foot on grass and is fed so much corn that it has to be given antibiotics to keep doing so or die, is not a healthy cow, according to both Churchill and Zweber.
From there the discussion turned to the recent Mercy for Animals story involving abuse at the Conklin Dairy Farm. In undercover footage a animal rights worker filmed a fellow employee abusing several calfs. Both men had lied on their resumes to get the jobs in the first place. Many believe that the animal rights worker encouraged the abuse in order to obtain sensationalized footage. Thiboumery, who opposes factory farming, wanted to make clear that the abuse seen in the video is in no way indicative of all conventional farms. Churchill added that what happened at Conklin Dairy was largely a result of absentee management. “If a single calf on my farm dies,” he said, “that’s a major event. On larger farms that doesn’t even make a blip on the radar.
Zweber said that they have a daily discussion of “What would PETA think right now.” Their farm is clean and safe, she clarified, but if someone wanted to get “gotcha” footage they could find things to shoot and edit into damning video. She gave the example of seeing muddy cows after a heavy storm. They immediately began brainstorming ways to have cleaner cows, even though a muddy cow is in no way harmful.
The official discussion ended there, but afterwards each panelist was surrounded by people who continued to ask questions and, yes, compliment them on their meat.
The event was a wild success and proves that interest in how our food is grown and produced is rising.
