Meet your meat (or at least your butcher)

So the supermarkets have hit the headlines today for all the wrong reasons, with reports that traces of horse meat have been found in low-cost beef burgers.

I was chatting to my pal Bill the butcher this morning and he said the stories hadn’t surprised him; the only way you can really know where you meat is coming from (and indeed - what it is!) is to find a reputable local butcher and ask questions about the produce. The supermarkets and their suppliers now operate on a scale so large that accountability is difficult.

But hang on a sec, how can a person who doesn’t eat meat weigh into this debate? And just what is a vegetarian doing being on friendly terms with a butcher?

The answer to the first point is that there are both carnivores and herbivores in my household – with myself and the rabbit representing the veggies, and my boyfriend, cat and snake flying the flag for the meat eaters. So I’m well-used to buying chicken, sausages and mince alongside my Quorn.

And I’ve known Bill the butcher for almost 20 years because he and his wife Christine, son Phillip and Phil's wife Sonia run Dunston Park Farm in Derbyshire – a business that includes a farm shop and equestrian centre offering livery and dressage training. My elderly horse is one of the pampered equine residents, which adds a nice irony to the situation. While some suppliers are allegedly putting bits of horse into their burgers, I’m relying on a butcher to look after mine!

But perhaps this is what makes Bill such a good butcher – he and his family are massive animal lovers and welfare is at the top of their agenda.

Despite this though I hang my head in shame as I confess that before I started my challenge to avoid the supermarkets I was not a regular customer at the farm shop. Instead I bought most of our meat at Tesco.

Why? Well the usual reasons really.... price, convenience, and I suppose a natural vegetarian aversion to the meat counter. I wanted my meat to be cheap, cheerful and handily packaged so I didn’t have to think too much about where it came from.

Clearly this has to change.

Dunston Farm Shop

Dunston's farm shop, it has to be said, is every vegetarian’s worst nightmare. There’s a huge counter piled high with glistening bits of animal.

But Bill has been delightedly welcoming me into the shop since my resolution started and loudly telling other customers that he’s going to be the man to get me eating meat again.

During this morning’s visit we start chatting about today's news and he is adamant that strict regulations mean any business selling meat SHOULD know exactly where it comes from.

Records are kept from the time an animal is born. Tags are put into the animal's ears and paperwork has to be filled out when that animal changes hands or goes for slaughter.

I ask Bill if he knows where his meat is from and he nods emphatically, opens his arms wide and gestures towards his counter.

“Every bit,” he says. “Every single bit.”

“We used to rear our own cows and sheep here, but when the equestrian side of the business took over we stopped doing that. Now we use a local farm just a few miles away.

“This means I know where the animals were born, how they were reared, what they were fed and where they were slaughtered. I know the history behind every bit of meat we sell.”

And what about the price? Bill’s meat is certainly more expensive than Tesco's cheaper offerings.

He asks me to think about the work involved in rearing an animal and running a farm in the UK, and compare this to the prices supermarkets charge for budget meats.

He also asks me to consider the other ingredients, or “fillers” such as pasta that can be used to bulk out cheaper meat products. Even without the alleged horse DNA it still doesn’t sound appetising or healthy.

I know from first hand experience that Bill’s meat really is just that – meat. I was in the shop a week ago to get some mince for my other half and was a bit taken aback when Bill literally took a lump of flesh and put it through his mincing machine while I watched. Not particularly entertaining viewing for a veggie, but at least it meant I knew exactly what was in the mince that I took home and that it had been made from a single piece of meat.

And although it costs more, you do also get more for your money at Dunston. A couple of days ago I walked away with a steak the size of a house brick and today’s chicken breast puts the shriveled little supermarket offerings to shame.

Bill admits that some of his customers are wealthy, but we also discussed the merits of putting quality over quantity and experimenting with cheaper cuts, more economical recipes and using leftovers to get the most from your meat.

And from my veggie standpoint, I’d also like to add that having a couple of vegetarian days and experimenting with meat-free cooking might be another way that a family on a tighter budget could afford to buy better quality meat from a butcher and use it more sparingly.

I guess the moral of this story is that all those who feel queasy after reading today’s headlines should think carefully about the meat they buy and ask plenty of questions. Any good butcher should be happy to talk about where their meat is from.

But I fear Bill might be in for a disappointment regarding in his vow to change my meat-free ways - this veggie ain’t for turning!