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I drove by a farm the other day and was beside myself when I saw "tourist" snapping photos of the farmer picking squash. I understood their morbid curiosity, but it was horrifying to think that soon these photos would be posted for all to gape at on Flickr & Facebook...

I may have felt differently if these gawkers had, jumped the fence and picked a squash themselves, shedding a immaculate tear for each gourd sacrificed, that would never rot on the vine.

I think you need to get over yourself.

Well said, Dana. I feel completely the same way. I went to a pig butchering workshop a few years back (pre-trendiness) and was really amazed at how respectful and genuinely curious all the participants seemed to be. Recently, some of these events have definitely like they're more about bragging rights ("Guess what _I_ did last night!") instead of learning about a part of our food culture.

Butchering an animal is very different from slaughtering it. Though I'm sure some people would be creepers about it, I don't think the general reaction to watching an animal die would be quite so voyeuristic. Or enthusiastic.

I can respect that you feel strongly about the life of the animal. However, not to put too fine a point on it, but a dead animal is meat. It is an act of reverence not just to the animal but to the environment and those not priviledged to have good protein sources not to waste any part of it.

Though I can't speak to the mood of the group you were with, I would personally be excited to be around others who were excited about reviving a trade and a skill which was vital to communities and food for a very long time. I hope they shared their pictures and what they learned from the experience with as many people as they could.

My husband is very much hoping to have the opportunity to feild dress and butcher a deer this year. We want to learn as much as we can about how to use food and where it comes from. It frustrates us to no end that we do not have ready access to traditional butchers and the "nasty bits" of animals. On a recent scouting trip to a purportedly posh grocers I was told they never have fresh soup bones!

I applaud the people that are doing this, and hope they come to Milwaukee!

I'm not sure what \i think about butchery as a spectator sport, but I don't imagine these same people are too curious to see the process by which the vast majority of our pork is processed - or the working conditions for people working on the floor, especially the kill floor.

MaryWynn. I love you. And your husband. Enjoy the venison (the liver's the best!).

my dad worked the kill floor at a pork plant for years. it isn't as terrible as one might think. Most of the workers find a calm, almost sweet, way of taking care of the pig until their final minutes.

As a wannabe farm girl, I learned to kill chickens in my adolescent years. Once you learn to kill and clean your own food, you DO gain a respect for meat that most people never know.

I helped raise a cow one summer that I knew from day one was going to be in the freezer one day. And when it went to the butcher, I cried a little. But there's a separation that happens in your head when raising your own food. It isn't personal. Which, I feel most people take it. It's just about food. I think even the cow understood that.

I think in any scenario you're going to have voyeurs who snap cell phone pictures in an effort to "gross out" their friends. and honestly, I don't even mind this behavior, if it makes someone stop and think about where food comes from.

And also anything that elevates butchery to a higher level is okay in my book. A lot of the inhumane treatment of animals (not to mention workers. and the spread of disease.) comes from the commoditization of butchery.

I stayed over at a commune in NH once and the happened to be butchering a hog for a semi-annual festival they hold. I admit, I pulled out the camera and snapped a photo as they scalded it in a big tank of water. But in my mind at the time I was more impressed at their ingenuity and ways of butchering that animal on a small-scale (and no one could say that the folks that lived there were not respectful of the animal) than going 'ooh thats gross, lemme snap a picture'. Our food goes inside our body, we put a lot of thought into it, and there is going to be a fascination with how it gets to the point where we consume it. I think it's completely normal for people to have that fascination, especially as how in the world today we are so detached from our food sources.

I am not entirely surprised that there came to be a voyeuristic reaction to a butcher workshop. Yes those folks are becoming a little more connected to their food source by seeing that it was an animal and seeing how it is butchered...but folks still miss out on the whole life cycle that led to that moment. I'm not talking about watching the birth of a pig on tv, either. Delivering, raising, feeding, and even bonding with one's animals certainly contributes to the pride, gratitude, and reverence that they deserve when it comes time for slaughter. That should be part of the whole butcher workshop too!
I must add that raising one's own food gives a meal blessing or meditation a more meaningful context too. It was not that long ago when families and communities saw that only a special occasion required a whole pig or cow to be slaughtered and those were times of much spiritual celebration. I think the next "trends" in food and eating will be more holistic in this sense.

Not fond of this article... sounds too much like a personal journal entry rather than a professional foodie blog piece.

Thank you for an insightful post, Dana. I appreciate how you are able to identify and explore subtleties and ambiguities that are apparently beyond some of the readers here.

I will always be conflicted about what I eat and the way it got to my table. I don't care how kind or gentle or peaceful it may be. I once knew an amazing artisanal pork producer who genuinely loved his animals; he treated them with the deepest of care. And when I asked him about the slaughtering process and whether he was in any way conflicted, he said "they live good lives. And they have one bad day."
I'm not sure if that made me feel any better. I love meat. But I will always be conflicted. And I'm not sure what to do with that.

Interesting post. I've never been a vegetarian, but I am frequently surprised by the lack of respect that grown adults are capable of showing for food -- any food, not just meat. I've watched coworkers wastefully play with food as if they were five-years-old. If the food was not bought on their dime, people can be shockingly caviler about being wasteful, which shows a lack of respect for those who made the food, bought the food, and those who do not have enough food.

As for the meat, don't forget that some of the people you mention may be the types who are interested in medicine and biology and have a genuine fascination with living bodies. However I do agree that there probably were some in the crowd who had a somewhat sick excitement over watching this process -- after all, someone keeps going to see those Saw movies.

I'm a big fan of these meditations-- they come across as more personal for sure (kind of like an editorial, if you were to think of traditional news sources) but also allow the reader time to think a bit deeper. Keep up the good work!

Trendiness is always laughable to a certain degree. No doubt things get carried away and people will go to extremes but for the most part trendiness is fun and we may learn something from it--good or bad. And there will always be posers.

If the butchering trend catches on, more and more people may begin to realize where their food comes from and will get excited about actually utilizing raw product to make their own meals.

There was a nice opinion piece in yesterday's times by Nicolette Niman that talked about the amount of greenhouse gasses that result from the industrialization of our foods. Butchering your own meat from the farm cuts out the feed lot, the factory, the packaging, the trucks and all of that stuff. I know I'm not telling you anything new, I guess I just see this trend more for its potential than anything else right now.

@MaryWynn, I butchered a whole deer last year and documented it here with pictures and video. http://thepleasanthouse.com/2008/12/05/getting-the-most-out-of-your-food-whole-animal-butchery-venison/

I'd love to learn how to do this! But I don't see it as "entertainment".. it's a practical skill. I think it's good though for people to know where their food comes from, I'm even hoping to take my hunting course so that I can shoot my own. I think there's a lot to be said for eating animals that've lived they way they're supposed to instead of sitting around eating things that they haven't evolved to process (like grain).

and for the record.. I watch the Saw movies.

I think this post is way over the top. "But what stops me cold is when public butchery becomes a spectator sport, when the mood shifts to voyeurism and the cell phone cameras start coming out. What stops me cold is when people think this is just so cool and hard core, when they think it's a freakin' party. Excuse me? That's someone's mother lying on the table, all skinned and gutted. Have some respect, people."

I am disturbed about the judgements you make about the people who watch butchery events. Maybe a lot of them are interested in the process whereby their bacon, sirloin and lamb chops are provided for their table. Maybe this is how they are taking the first steps towards understanding that meat doesn't just appear in the fridge section of the grocery store. And there are a lot of people who will attest to the fact that some things just go better with a few cocktails.

By labelling the people who view these events as voyeurs, you're completely ignoring their experiences and what they're learning - did you ever talk to them about why they come to these events? Based on what you wrote, I'm assuming you didn't. Where's your respect for them?

VOYEUR

Main Entry: voy·eur
Pronunciation: vwä-'y&r, voi-'&r
Function: noun
: one obtaining sexual gratification from seeing sex organs and sexual acts; broadly : one who habitually seeks sexual stimulation by visual means

I agree with you on a couple of points: I think that food animals should be treated decently and killed mercifully. I also think that people should be learning where their food comes from. However I totally disagree with your opinion of the "right" focus of respect.

If you are going to get all sensitive about "respecting" an animal's carcass, isn't the act of ingesting, and digesting, the flesh more disrespectful than taking pictures of it? Especially when there are so many other sources of nourishment available to us?

There is such a lack of perspective and common sense when it comes to animal rights, especially companion animal rights. The compartmentalizing is really impressive.

I suspect that the author is referring to events like this Futurist Banquet at SFMOMA when describing butchery as a spectacle at trendy food events.

From the article:
The main event was a whole 800 lb cow that had been spit-roasted for 18 hours the night before, bicycled through the city to the museum, then butchered by a team of all-female chefs. Amidst the eruption of cultish clapping, the slabs of beef were delivered by conveyer belt from the sacrificial table to the different food stations. One of which ground up the beef using a hand-operated meat grinder, before stuffing it into fried corn tortillas, constructing beef ice cream cones.

Make of it what you will, but the excitement of the audience here is certainly not due to a curiosity about practical butchery processes, nor is it about developing a connection to a holistic food system.

I'm glad that as a vegetarian, I don't have to do these mental gymnastics to justify my actions and reconcile them with my ethical beliefs.

@Corby
As a non-vegetarian I don't have to do any "mental gymnastics" to justify my omnivore actions either. I am, however, confused as to why it seems to be implied in your comment that people who choose to eat meat would necessarily need to do that while vegetarians are by default exempt.

@Corby, if you haven't read that NYT piece that I referenced, you may be interested in checking it out. Niman goes so far as to say that a conscientious meat eater may have more of a positive effect on the environment than the average vegetarian. She was referencing the clear-cutting that takes place to grow soy in Brazil. I'm not trying to be argumentative but I think it's interesting that no matter what or how we eat, as long as we are eating processed foods, industrial manufactured foods--there are moral and environmental implications.

I'm an anatomist, and am thrilled to hear these events going on. Even more thrilled that people are embracing the event. Even those spectators who are taking cell phone images to 'gross out' their pals, will learn something. And the more people learn about where their food comes from, how it happens the more respect they will have for it. I do not think it has to be a solemn religious event, why can one not be fascinated by anatomy, by the skills of a butcher? I am always fascinated by the animals I dissect, because I am learning from them. Please celebrate death as we celebrate life, there is little time between the two.

Also your statement "... But never, never some kind of freak show art performance. That's just wrong." Worries me. I am married to a performance artist, and have never considered his work a freak show, in fact, I have seen many an art performance that would be considered thoughtful, solemn events.

@ MegP and Corby: completely agreed.

I don't get the logic here.

Excellent post, Dana. Clearly, you've touched some nerves.

I really enjoy these meditations precisely because they are more personal than typical "professional foodie" blogtalk, of which there is certainly no shortage here on the Kitchn and elsewhere.

We should know how our food comes to us. It's when we lose sight of the great interconnectedness of all life that we lose touch with ourselves and each other, and that's when it all starts to go to hell in a handbasket.

Keep up the good work.