Fire Up the BBQ?

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water buffaloIsrael’s Chief Rabbinate has deemed water buffalo kosher.

I’m sure the carnivores are salivating, but I’m not sure it’s a cause for celebration. Do the Jewish people really want to be responsible for mass exploitation of another red-meat species? Not to be macabre, but as author Jonathan Safran Foer painfully explains, kosher doesn’t exactly mean humane. (Warning: Humane Kosher is a very explicit site and not for the weak-stomached.)

I’m no vegan, and in no danger of becoming one, but I do my best to be conscious of where my meat comes from. If it’s not organic and/or grass-fed, I’ll usually pass. I try not to preach or judge, either — when you’re hungry, you eat. Not everyone can survive on tofu — animal protein is necessity for most of us. But seriously, if you had to kill the animal yourself, would you eat as much meat?

Such is “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” a human conundrum and a new book by Michael Pollan.

That said, and because I enjoy my ethical paradoxes, here’s my recipe for Buffalo Chili:

2 lbs. ground buffalo
2 onions
2 zucchini
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
chili powder
1 jar chunky salsa
salt and pepper
1 can kidney beans
1 can black beans
vegetable oil

Pour about 2 tbsp. of oil in the bottom of a big ol’ pot. Chop onions and zucchini and sauté ’til soft. In a separate pan, brown buffalo meat and drain fat. (Or leave a little for extra taste.) Add to veggies.

Add all forms of canned tomatoes and salsa. Add chili powder to taste. Simmer for at least 20 min, an hour if you have time. (If you’ve actually killed the buffalo yourself, this is a good time to dry the leather.)

Add beans, liquid and all. Salt and pepper to taste. Simmer some more. (Perhaps make yourself a nice belt.)

When your inner carnivore drools, it’s ready. Serve in bowls with sour cream and chopped fresh cilantro. A pan of cornbread completes the meal.

3 thoughts on “Fire Up the BBQ?”

  1. I looked at that Jonathan Safran Foer link, and it’s very deceptive. What people don’t realize is that, compared to the rest of the meat industry, Agriprocessors is like slaughterhouse heaven.

    Watch some of the other undercover videos on peta.org, and compare them with Agriprocessors.

    People may not like to see animals being slaughtered, but that’s due more to the fact that people are completely disconnected from the realities of meat; people just buy meat in a nice little plastic package in the store, and don’t have to think about where it came from.

    Just because blood and dead animal bodies makes people disgusted, doesn’t make meat any less healthy or tasty, and it doesn’t change the fact that Agriprocessors is more humane than most other slaughterhouses.

    Also, one of the main things that bothers me about Jonathan’s video, was that he says the animals get their throats ripped out while still fully conscious, which is very, very highly improbable. One story I like to relate in this context involves my grandfather who fought in WWII. One day their camp was being shelled and my grandfather saw a man running through the camp without a head, because it got cut off while he was running. Chickens can still walk around with their heads cut off. I’ve heard cockroaches can live for a few days with no head. So just because a technically dead cow gets up and walks around for a minute or so certainly doesn’t make it fully conscious.

    I agree, if you can’t handle the realities of meat, don’t eat it. But understand that these are the realities; living animals have to be killed for meat. Nice little furry ones. I hope to have a small farm eventually where I’ll be able to own and slaughter my own animals… but in the meantime, I’m eating some of the most humane there is, Agriprocessors.

    Reply ↓

  3. Thought you might find these items of interest. They give a basic background information on the situation at Agriprocessors, vis-a-vis the situation of the workers and worker-management relations. The first article is less relevant than the others … but I wanted to be comprehensive. Note that there are a number of blog entries listed below the articles.
    >> Arieh Lebowitz

    Tribe teams with orthodox Jews to run meat plant
    Bismarck Tribune, USA – Jul 10, 2006
    … Several hundred people, including plant workers, community officials, politicians and … In 1989, they started a kosher plant called Agriprocessors in Postville …
    http://www.bismarcktribune.com/articles/2006/07/10/news/state/117536.txt

    US kosher slaughterhouse probed
    Ynetnews, Israel – Jul 2, 2006
    … Industry experts told the Forward that wages paid to workers at AgriProcessors are among the lowest in the slaughterhouse industry, despite the premium price …
    http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3270195,00.html

    Big Kosher Suppliers Hit With Antitrust Subpoenas
    New York Jewish Week, USA – Jun 28, 2006
    … Last month, a report in The Forward charged that AgriProcessors mistreated its line … In just one month last summer two young workers required amputations, as …
    http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=12662

    Religious Bodies Move To Probe Conditions At Kosher Meat Plant
    by Nathaniel Popper / http://www.forward.com / June 23, 2006
    Two key national bodies of Conservative Judaism have created a task force to investigate and respond to complaints of substandard working conditions at the nation’s largest kosher slaughterhouse, first described in a Forward investigation.
    http://www.forward.com/articles/7998

    Immigration Battle Splitting Locals in Iowa
    by Nathaniel Popper / http://www.forward.com / June 23, 2006
    POSTVILLE, Iowa — This rural town’s reservoir of neighborly good will has been drained in recent weeks by an increasingly personal debate about the immigrants lining up for work at the local slaughterhouse — the nation’s largest kosher meatpacking plant.
    http://www.forward.com/articles/8016

    A Kosher Storm
    Editorial / http://www.forward.com / June 16, 2006
    It seems the Forward has kicked up quite a storm with our May 26 report from Postville, Iowa, describing working conditions at AgriProcessors, the world’s largest kosher meatpacking plant.
    http://www.forward.com/articles/7961

    Slaughterhouse Rules
    Editorial / http://www.forward.com / May 26, 2006
    Many Jews nowadays find Shavuot, the holiday that begins next Thursday evening, June 1, to be among the hardest of Jewish holidays to embrace and take to heart. http://www.forward.com/articles/7838

    In Iowa Meat Plant, Kosher ‘Jungle’ Breeds Fear, Injury, Short Pay
    by NATHANIEL POPPER / http://www.forward.com / May 26, 2006
    The animals slaughtered here at the nation’s largest kosher meat packing plant have been the object of nationwide sympathy since an animal rights group released videos from the kill floor in December 2004.
    http://www.forward.com/articles/7841

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    In addition to the articles above, there are some relevant weblog items
    at http://www.jspot.org —
    see these: http://jspot.org/index.php?s=AGRIPROCESSORS

    and http://www.canonist.com —
    see these: http://www.canonist.com/index.php?s=agriprocessors

    but note that one has to scroll down quite a bit to see the search results … which are worth seeing.

    and also take a look here: http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/kosher_meat_scandal/index.html

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