I very well remember, when I was a teen-ager, best meats adults were describing were not from Europe. Endless landscapes, few farmers and an unlimited number of herds of cattles were marking these very far territories… Other continents…
Graduating from high school, my father ìwrapped me’ …destination Venzuela. It was his gift to be adult…A few months on my own, in the middle of nowhere, but fantastic meats.
These last days brought back South America on first pages of many Eu magazines, and the debates from Bruxelles have been heard thousand km far.
Brazil temporary banned to export meat in Europe.
How? Why?
I look forward to getting the news that this sad story, about unrespected regulations, lack of transparency and maybe, a layer of politics will fade away…
I used to love meat from Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and neighbour countries. The so called Mercosur or Southern Common Market.
Now we are facing hard times, I’d say. More than hard, sad and weird if I can add it.
Even in their oceans’ of land, we are learning that cattles are grown up in super-intensive ways, that pesticides, antibiotics, heavy metals and OGM corns and cereals are an every-day, common philosophy. That, not always, truth on papers is the truth.
So, my today’s post is about my wish…I closed my eyes and tried to imagine my perfect cattle…lets see if it is also yours, agrred?
‘My idol cattle has to respect my ideal’ requirements for a meat that supports a healthy life. A meat that, when labelled BIO, describes not just the animal but its habitat. OGM free, heavy metal free, antibotics free, not just maybe. A meat stemming from a grass-fed animal where so defined super-nutrients or putting weight boosters are not a daily way to speak on the name of moneys. An animal that passed away in a slaughter house as per the most possible decent regulations. Not to say an animal that, after death, was not sold immediately to the customer plenty with water, tough and tasteless, keeping its carcass whole, to allow for a natural weight loss. An animal weaned on pasture, respectful of all labelling requirements, tracking and monitoring procedures, An animal, last but not least, deeply checked one by one, not just by coincidence of a random lottery.
Is this utopia? Am I pretending too much? Is my dream a pipe dream?
— Ettore Bellucci