My dear friend Sarah Obraitis, a partner of Heritage Foods USA, just popped me an email, “I wrote a letter to the editor of the New York Times and it’s in today’s paper – and online. It is in the Dining Section in response to this article on eating meat, slaughtering, animals, etc.” The article in question was Chefs’ New Goal: Looking Dinner in the Eye.
Here is Sarah Obraitis’ response in full:
To the Editor:
Re “Chefs’ New Goal: Looking Dinner in the Eye” (Jan. 16):
Jamie Oliver’s sacrificial performance surely opened eyes to the intimacies of eating meat. The reality is, we depend on a world of slaughterers and butchers. The factory processors that box tens of thousands of carcasses a day have suffocated the small, independent houses that were typically the linchpins between nearby family farmers and chefs. These appropriately sized outfits tend to uphold humane ethics on the kill floor, honor animals’ lives and respect farmers’ efforts to raise animals responsibly, high standards that are all dramatically lowered with the productivity demands of mass production.
By overlooking the dying art of civilized slaughter and custom butchering, we risk losing a piece of history, a viable livelihood and the proper conditions that produce the meats we crave. My hope is that Mr. Oliver’s splash will be more than a splash in the pan, and that it continues to inspire reverence and economic support for those who handle our foods in their final moments.
New York
The writer is a partner in Heritage Foods USA.
