Have We Lost Our Way With Food

[emmie]

I was reading an article earlier about a butchers shop who has had to remove meats hanging up in the shop window, because a few members of the public objected. He has received hate mail and been accosted for daring to show the public the goods that he sells. Is this just another example of head in the sand by the public, we eat meat, yet don't want to know where it comes from or what it looks like before it's carefully packaged in the supermarket. If that's the case i suggest that some take a look at the butchers in the capital, they don't care, its either hanging up or displayed on the slabs.

[2sp_]

Where do these people think meat comes from? Do they think that the animals die of old age?

It's sad that the butcher felt so pressured that the stopped hanging his produce in the shop window. I hope the police are involved with regards to the threats and hate mail.

[EcclesCake]

I asked much the same yesterday.

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Food-and-Drink/Question1317483.html

[chrissa1]

I agree with you. However, I think he went a bit over the top with the pig heads.

[EcclesCake]

How else do you make brawn though Chrissa?

[emmie]

apologies if it's been done, but this article was very interesting, and the butcher in question has had to take down the display. The thinking is that it's townies who have moved in to their quiet village, and been upset, taking their children past the window to see dead animals. Not content that what they buy from the supermarket was one of those animals, and probably not so kindly killed.

[emmie]

perhaps the pigs heads, but then again that may not have been all the time. Our butchers, who have all gone now, had the same displays, sawdust on the floor, and blood spattered table tops, cut the meats for you, which cut would you like, no one thought anything of it.

[2sp_]

I go to our local butcher every week and teach my 3 year old daughter where all the different types of meat on display come from. She knows that the meat comes from animals just like we have on the farm, even the pet lamb from last year that is still with us.

(I buy meat too!)

[chris1957au]

As a chef I often used to decorate pigs heads and use them on buffets, bet that would go down a treat these days lol, sad to say the lunatic are taking control.

[chrissa1]

Who makes brawn, these days, Eccles? Why not go the whole "hog" and put a cow's head up there?

[jomifl]

It would seem so...I can't really fancy eating pig's ****s or cow's stomachs but everything else is a definite maybe.

[2sp_]

What's next?

Fishmongers having to take whole fish and shellfish out of their windows?

[EcclesCake]

Chrissa, I have been in my butchers when people have bought pigs heads!

[chrissa1]

Well, personally, I have never seen anyone buy one and I have shopped in butchers since the 60's.

[snags]

''I can't really fancy eating pig's ****s''

If you've ever eaten at a Wetherspoons you probably already have...

[ummmm]

My granddad used to buy pig heads.

[2sp_]

Mr P's grandfather regularly made soup with a sheep's head for stock.

[LazyGun]

I think it is important that people know where their food is coming from,and that they appreciate that meat comes from farmed or hunted animals, and I suppose if you have only been exposed to packaged joints or packages of sausages from the fridges of the supermarkets then people might not appreciate that meat comes from animals.

As to the specifics of that display; People are entitled to complain if they see something in a window store that they object to; This is, after all, a democracy. And I personally found the display somewhat distasteful, even though I have worked in butchers and abbatoirs in my younger years.

But the butchers could have ignored the complaints; they could have been a bit more robust, stuck to their guns. After all, they have claimed to have a lot of local support- indeed, they claim that the majority of locals support them - so why not continue with what they were doing? I find it strange that butchers were sufficiently intimidated that they felt it necessary to take down the display.

[emmie]

my nan bought and cooked pigs heads, the first one was a bit of a shock, as i opened the lid to the large cooking pot and there it was, but if children have no idea where pork, ham, beef comes from, how on earth do they learn. Seems strange to me that continental butchers have no worries about their food displays, yet this chap has been compelled to remove his.

[emmie]

i agree, but i wonder if some of the pressure came from the local authority, i would have told the people to nob off, but that's me.

[EcclesCake]

We obviously shop in different butchers then Chrissa.

I do see locals buying pigs heads but more often than not it is the staff from the big houses that are buying them, presumably for themselves and not the Oligarchs and Arabs that they serve......and no, I wouldn't expect many Arabs to tuck into a pigs head before anyone corrects me!