As consumers become more interested in the origins of what’s on their table, butchers are stepping up to the plate by providing a level of service, knowledge and local fare often not found in large grocery chains.
Just ask Kyle Iseke, owner of D’Arcy’s Meat Market in St. Albert.
Supporting the local economy while buying from someone who is educated about their products are two benefits to buying directly from a butcher, he said.
“People are talking to somebody who knows what they’re talking about. They can bring a picture from a cookbook and say, ‘Can you make this for me?’ and I can say, ‘Yes absolutely,’” Iseke told the Gazette earlier this month.
Since buying the business from his father D’Arcy, two years ago, Iseke has expanded on the store’s previous offerings by adding a number of products, including 12 flavours of sausage, all made in-house.
Iseke first started cutting meat when he was only 13 and later went on to receive more formal training at NAIT.
When people shop at his store, he said, they’re supporting the local economy. D’Arcy’s gets all of its poultry, chicken and eggs from Morinville, its pork from Sturgeon Valley Pork, hams from Calahoo and beef from a distributor in Edmonton.
His said his pork, chicken, bison and turkey are all hormone and steroid free.
Iseke said his first shipment of organic beef is arriving this week.
“When people walk in, they want more natural food,” he said.
“The food is generally better anyways, whether you care about eating healthy or not. Farm grown chicken is a better texture and a better flavour than a factory grown chicken. It’s simply the way it’s raised and what it’s fed. It makes a big difference.”
Brenda and Tony Rustemeier sell their own meat and offer a mobile butcher service through their business, Cardiff Meat and Sausage.
Buying direct has several benefits for consumers, said Brenda.
“We basically show them the mother and that it’s been fed under natural conditions with no implants,” she said.
As a mobile butcher, Tony is licensed to go onto farms and slaughter animals for the farmer’s own use. The meat is then brought back to their shop where it is hung, cut and wrapped.
The couple also sell sides of beef at wholesale prices.
Brenda said after the meat is slaughtered on the premises, it is taken to a provincially licensed abattoir for inspection before being cut and wrapped back at their shop.
“It’s not actually organic because we do feed grain or feed that may have been sprayed so it’s not technically organic but it’s the next best thing,” she noted.
The couple have owned their business for 20 years and Tony is one of several mobile butchers in the area.
Brenda said she believes many people are often leery of feedlot-raised beef because growth promotants are often used.
“There’s been a lot of media hype, warranted or not, against the growth hormone,” she said.
“If people buy straight from us, we can look them in the eye and say, ‘No, this hasn’t had any growth hormone.’”
Being able to get a side of beef cut to certain specifications is another benefit to buying from a butcher, said Brenda.
“Things that normally they would have to pay a lot for, for example stir-fry minute steak, things with special processing, we provide that for no charge,” she said.
“It’s just part of the wholesale price.”
