by Betty Fussell
Just came upon a review from the Oct. 22, 2008 Time magazine, “A History of Beef, Times Two,” in which Gilbert Cruz compares Raising Steaks to Beef: The Untold Story of How Milk, Meat, and Muscle Shaped the World, by Andrew Rimas & Evan D.G.Fraser (William Morrow).
I was pleased that the reviewer’s verdict was to “skim” Beef but “read” Raising Steaks. For read, I’d say, “Chew on it,” particularly since he praised both books for reminding us “that as tasty as burgers and steak may be, there’s a price to be paid — in oil, land and treasure.”
Reserve a seat for Wednesday, Sept. 16, at The Beard House (167 West 12th Street). Discussion starts at 12 p.m. Call 212.627.2308 to reserve.
The event is part of Beard on Books, an ongoing monthly literary series featuring readings and discussions with some of the food world’s most celebrated authors. More information is available here.
Hardcore carnivore Betty Fussell details the history of the American beef industry and evaluates the challenges that it faces today in Raising Steaks: The Life and Times of American Beef. Approaching the industry from every angle, Fussell’s critique of the world of beef leaves no steak unturned: she visits independent butchers and large-scale producers, meets a diverse cast of workers who live and breathe cow, and learns about our federal system for grading cuts of meat.
Mindful of the industry’s problems while reverent of its scale and impact on our food culture, Raising Steaks is a thorough, objective, and passionate survey of a decidedly American tradition.
Andrew Riely posted a review of Raising Steaks at his blog, Gulliver’s Nest, that was written for the June issue of Radcliffe Culinary Times. Here’s the intro:
When I began my graduate research on cattle ranching in Texas, I thought it amusing that most ranchers I spoke with talked a blue streak about their desire for independence and self-reliance, yet they all dressed, drove, and drank the same. Meanwhile, they eyed those few among them who challenged conventional ranching methods with deep suspicion.
Betty Fussell examines the same dynamic in her wonderful, sprawling Raising Steak, an investigation into the economics, culture, and gastronomy of American beef. How can a good steak symbolize rugged cowboy individualism when its producers are terribly afraid of sticking out from the herd?
The conundrum troubles few people, if the exploding popularity of steakhouses is any guide. Fussell gets right at steak’s raw patriotic appeal, writing, with typical strength and directness, “Real American men, women and children eat steak because it’s red with blood, blood that pumps flavor, iron, vitality, and sex into flaccid bodies. For women, steak is better than spinach. For men, it’s better than Viagra. With steak, it’s easy to get carried away.” I’ll say!
Go read the rest.
Plus: Looking at the numerous articles, books and even films released recently that take a closer look at industrial food production and the treatment of animals, Sarah Earle of the Concord Monitor questions our relationship to the food we eat. Raising Steaks, she writes, “joins a stampede of such literature barreling through the stockades that have separated the average American from his lunch since the dawn of the industrial farm.”
In other book news, “Raising Steaks” is an International Association of Culinary Professionals Cookbook Award finalist in the category of literary food writing. The winners will be announced at the 2009 IACP International Conference in Denver on April 4.
This week only — Betty’s book “Raising Steaks” is featured at DearReader.com’s nonfiction book club, coordinated by Suzanne Beecher. Betty will answer readers’ questions and comments.
A recent article in Slate looks at three books about beef, including Raising Steaks (though it is incorrectly referred to as “American Steak” in the first reference). Sara Dickerman writes:
Betty Fussell’s American Steak takes a picaresque approach to the American beef industry, examining through character sketches the story of American beef both light (how to cook carne asada) and dark (what happens inside a beef processing facility). In Beef: The Untold Story of How Milk, Meat, and Muscle Shaped the World, Andrew Rimas and Evan DJ Fraser take a longer-term look at bovines—examining the history of cattle, their co-evolution with humans, and their deep significance in mythology and culture. And in the academic collection Meat, Modernity, and the Rise of the Slaughterhouse, edited by historian Paula Young Lee, several scholars examine the modern invention of the slaughterhouse as a dark countermelody to the history of urbanism.
