Beef, it's what's for dinner, has long been the motto of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. But if you eat meat, what matters more is, what did your beef have for dinner?
At local farmers' markets all over the country and on their own Web sites, a growing number of small-scale, independent ranchers are offering pasture-raised beef directly to increasingly nutrition- and taste-conscious consumers. Propagating a literal grass-roots movement around healthier meat and more sustainable environmental practices, some beef ranchers even refer to themselves as "grass farmers," since the quality and upkeep of pasture plays a critical role in the health of the herd and the flavor and nutrition of the meat they sell.
Grass-fed beef, particularly from cattle that forage for their own living food, has high levels of the fat-soluble vitamins A and E and of omega-3 polyunsaturated fats. Pasture beef is leaner overall with up to three times more omega-3s than conventional beef briskly bulked-up on soy and corn in huge feedlots. Pasture-fed beef also has a much better ratio of omega-3s to omegas-6s, a balance critical to human health, providing anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects.
The health-aware practices of grass farmers are anything but new: They recall the food and farms that prevailed until a generation or two ago, before agriculture was consumed with chemical enhancement and corn- and soy-feed production. However, their talk is new; whether behind a market stand or on a Web site, these ranchers often speak in terms more associated with nutritionists or neuroscientists, citing good fats, bad fats, and the value of antioxidants.
They are also conversant with Michael Pollan's 2006 book The Omnivore's Dilemma, which spotlights Virginia farmer Joel Salatin, who sees his cattle grazing as if living at a giant salad bar. Most of the new breed of ranchers raise heritage breeds in small herds—but they get the big picture about the relationship between healthy animals, plants, and soil. Allowed to roam in open pasture, their animals do not require constant worming and antibiotics to resist disease.
Due to the vastly healthier fat distribution and fatty acid composition of grass-fed beef, it both cooks and tastes different from commercial beef. It even has a different odor. "Studies indicate that 15 to 20 percent of consumers prefer the flavor of grass-fed beef in blind tests," reports John Comerford, associate professor of animal science at Penn State, who works with ranchers to develop best practices. As for the other 80 percent who prefer the flavor of commercial beef, he isn't sure whether it's "an acquired taste, or something else. It's hard to tell."
Here in Michigan, I sought out John McLaughlin of McLaughlin Farm by way of LocalHarvest.org. He raises Scottish Highland cattle on a former dairy farm his grandparents bought in 1932, and practices rotational grazing on a variety of grasses and living greens. He dry-ages his beef, as butchers used to do, to bring out the flavor. Many of his customers tell him the same thing: "This meat reminds me of the meat I had as a child."
Like many cattlemen with a presence on LocalHarvest, McLaughlin cultivates a direct relationship with his customers. He produces a newsletter and heaps beef-buyers with recipes and advice on how to cook his lean beef—"low and slow," since it can't stand up to the high temperatures that wet-packaged supermarket beef can. McLaughlin admits that he has to do a lot of education before that first sale, but these days, there is a wait list for his meat several months out.
Once a week, he sets up shop at a farmers' market in front of Zingerman's Roadhouse, whose noted chef Alex Young probably clocks more time on a farm than most. Zingerman's is known for its relentless pursuit of the world's finest flavors.
Some consumers dislike the richer, gamier—some even claim "fishier"—flavor of grass-fed beef, not so surprising given that its fat profile is closer to salmon's than commercial beef's. Salmon, however, it is not. It takes a heaping pound and a half of cooked pasture-raised beef to equal the level of omega-3s in a mere three ounces of salmon, says Comerford. That is, if the fish was raised right; the omega-3 content of salmon varies depending on whether the fish is farm-raised or wild-caught.
Surf or turf, what your dinner ate for dinner really does matter. Unfortunately, says Bob Boyce, a Pennsylvania farmer and rancher, "most fish now consumed in America is raised just like most beef—confined on a commercial farm, fed and fattened on cheap corn-based feed."
In fact, researchers recently discovered that widely available farm-raised tilapia fish has such an unhealthy fat profile that consumers would do better eating a burger, a donut, or even bacon. All that corn leaves the fish low in omega-3s and high in pro-inflammatory omega-6s.
Boyce feeds his animals none of it. He raises beef the way animals were raised before ranching was overtaken by agribusiness. He sums up his agricultural practices as "what God would be doing, if we weren't here to interfere." —Daniel A. Marano
How to Buy Grass-Fed Beef
It costs more but has less water and rind fat than supermarket beef.
