Closing the Loop: Nose-to-Tail
Here at IDC we live our passion from the very top of the company, down through the whole of our staff, to our partners, suppliers and customers – from our nose to our tail. Last year our CEO, Chris Edwards, attended a nose-to-tail butchery skills learning day at ‘Daylesford Cookery School’
which got us thinking…What are the benefits of this style of cookery? What does it actually entail and how can it be integrated into menus and at home?
One of the ways we can all justify and enjoy eating meat well into the future is to rethink how we use the meat we have; to ensure that rather than continuing to drive the current demand for prime cuts, businesses and households might instead embrace delectable slow cooked offcuts like beef cheek, or adventurous snacks like bone marrow. After all, a farmer raises a pig not a pork chop. Many parts of any animal carcass that is sold are often thrown away with no understanding of the treasures that have been discarded.
Choosing offal and offcuts on menus and cooking them at home can drive down both food and energy waste. If consumption of these cuts were to increase to twice a week
per person, livestock emissions could be reduced by as much as 14%, as using more of an animal means fewer need to be reared overall. With fewer animals to rear and consumers paying to use every part of those animals, there is the potential for more to be invested into each animal, ensuring their health and wellbeing and in turn, the quality of their meat.
“An animal has given its life for us to enjoy the meat. The least we can do is stretch it as far as possible, if you keep the connection and know where your food comes from, you’ll appreciate your food more. Meat becomes a treat and you eat less of it. If the consumer eats something weird that has been prepped and cooked for them, chances are they’ll love it. And when they realise these things aren’t as intimidating as they originally thought, they’ll start cooking them at home.”
Andy Fenner, Frankie Fenner Meat Merchants 