How Does Sustainable Meat Taste?
While researching this article, I came across some people commenting about the taste of grass-fed beef. They hated it!
It seems that people used to factory-farmed beef, often find grass-fed beef too “gamey”.
That reminded me of something.
As a child I didn’t enjoy food at all. Desperate to get me to eat some meat, my mother occasionally allowed me to eat a fast-food burger (“even junk food is better than nothing”, she would mutter).
I always chose a McDonalds burger. Why? Because to me, it didn’t taste like meat.
Don’t get me wrong here. McDonalds is a very successful business, they’re definitely doing something right.
But my tastebuds, used to pastured, grass-fed beef, told me that fast food burgers tasted different.
(Not that we called it sustainable meat then. It was just ‘meat’, and that was the only way it was reared, there weren’t any choices, and good cuts of beef were regarded as quite a luxury).
So perhaps, if your tastebuds have become used to factory-farmed beef, more sustainable beef would taste quite different.
Plus:
- The taste of sustainable meat varies – depending on exactly where the cattle were raised, the meat will taste of whatever they ate. Whereas factory-farmed beef mostly tastes identical.
- Because sustainable meat has less fat, you might need to adapt your cooking methods, otherwise it might be tough.
- And the taste will vary depending upon the time of year. I suppose it’s a bit like the terroir of wine.
All of these are very good reasons why tastebuds, used to a certain standard taste, might not appreciate sustainable meat immediately.
Tip: If you have a friend who likes grass-fed beef, you could ask them where they buy it (butcher, farm, supermarket). Like everything else in life, there are different qualities, and different meat producers with differing standards.
A thought to think
If everyone in the U.S. ate no meat or cheese just one day a week, it would be like taking more than 7 million cars off the road!
(Source: EWG)
Related Articles:
Sustainable Meat – Grass Fed, Pastured
Photo Credit: Microsoft / Fotolia
[…] Sustainable Meat Taste […]
[…] Next post: Sustainable Meat Taste […]
How would you recommend people to adapt to more sustainable meats? For example, because of the taste, would you say different seasonings? Is the sustainability countered by cost?
Hi Mark, to adapt: watch the cooking methods – they may be different if you’re used to more fat and moisture, and yes, change the seasonings if necessary (I always sigh when I see a lot of goop being slathered over food) – or, like Sonya in Costa Rica, embrace the wonderful flavour! Cost-wise – buying quality means you need less quantity, so that helps from a cost point of view. But what price your health?
The meat Does generally taste a bit less flavorable at first, this is because they don’t load the animals up with useless grains especially near the end… Commercial Ranches just want to fatten them up with Corn and such.
And that is where all that fat and water comes into play.
When Buying Organic grass fed you get MORE for your money. Cook one from the store then one from grass fed farm… after cooking the grass fed will weigh a lot more! Because it isn’t all water weight and fat.
The one from the store shrivels up just like bacon does.
The taste part is easy… season it up! But truly, once you start eating healthier your body will crave it… and you will notice the natural nuances in the taste.
This was never a problem. So I don’t get it. I think it tastes way better than those commercial products, and the texture is WAY better!
What price your health is right!! but even a slight adjustment in spices, like fresh cracked pepper or a touch of fruit juice, can make meat more delicisious.
Sonya Lenzo
Your commentary on how our taste buds have been “trained” is so true. Infrequently I will find a food just like it was (like I liked) when I was a child and offer it to my kids … it tastes foreign to them.
I LOVE grass fed beef! So much more flavor! But then again, I also love spicy food. I love to excite my palette with exploding flavor and can’t stand bland, boring food. But I’ve learned that I’m pretty much in the minority in that regard. 🙂
Cherie Miranda
I love spicy food too – a good curry is great, and it’s a super way of making veggies and lentils really interesting.
“If everyone in the U.S. ate no meat or cheese just one day a week, it would be like taking more than 7 million cars off the road!”
Now THAT was interesting, I had no idea.
Thanks for that.
Be Well
Jc
Yes, I was quite staggered by that too!
Good points throughout about how grass fed beef might taste different to someone not familiar with it. I can say personally that I prefer grass fed beef. I think a lot may depend on how well the beef was prepared.
Michael
Absolutely Michael, it makes a huge difference.
I actually love grass fed beef…I guess some people don’t like change
I believe that it is all in the way that the grass fed beef is cooked and handled. I have never thought of grass fed beef as being “gamey”.
This post reminds me of an episode of Anthony Bourdain’s, “No Reservations” on The Travel Channel. In the particular episode I’m thinking of Anthony went duck hunting. After a day of hunting he went back to the home of the people who were his hosts for the day. He said something to them along the lines of, “you must really love the taste of duck since you’ve been hunting it for so many years.” They replied back that they hated it. That they have tried cooking it so many different ways and it always tasted terrible. Mr. Bourdain explained to them, “You’re doing it wrong”. He then showed them how to cook and prepare a gourmet meal of duck and they LOVED it.
All of these years they were just not cooking the duck the right way. You ever get a chance to see this episode I highly recommend that you take the time to watch it. Great show.
Yours In Health!
G.E. Moon II
I’ll look out for that Anthony Bourdain show – what an amazing story, how wonderful that he changed their minds by showing how to cook duck properly! Thanks Gary!
I used to hate meat. I would put almost a 1/2 a bottle of ketchup just to gag the meat down. (Not sure why I was eating it then.) I bought 1/2 a grass fed cow and, to me, the taste is unbelievable. I have never noticed a gamey taste. Maybe it comes from how it is cooked. I am a medium-rare meat eater. No more ketchup for me.
Yours In Health!
Dr. Wendy
No more ketchup – yay! 🙂
many people wouldn’t eat meat if it wasn’t for the sauces and marinaids