You probably grew up eating meat-most Americans do. And if you’re reading this site (and especially if you order food from us!) you probably currently eat meat.

But have you ever seen an animal butchered? Have you ever spent time on a farm? Probably not. Which means you join the majority of Americans who eat meat but don’t know much about where it comes from, whether we’re talking the life the animal led or how its life ended.

We often fear the unknown, but if we take the time to look behind the curtain, we can not only educate ourselves but also realize that what we feared perhaps wasn’t so bad after all.

Back in 2010, I had the amazing opportunity to spend 2 whole days at a pig farm in New Jersey to take part in processing (i.e., slaughtering) and butchering a half-dozen pigs, then cooking up various parts of the pigs and preserving other parts, even rendering lard. Here’s photographic proof:

I had friends who were baffled as to why I’d want to take part in such events while others thought it sounded intriguing. I just couldn’t turn down a chance to see how small-scale animal farming works, and figured if I couldn’t handle being a part of such activities, I had no business eating meat, anyway.

Turns out, I was able to handle myself just fine, but that doesn’t mean I took things casually, especially during the slaughter. It took witnessing the loss of life to know, and not just intellectually understand, what’s at stake. I became renewed in my desire to spread the word about local, small-scale meat as a viable alternative to mass-produced industrial meat, not only for the nutritional advantages but the environmental impact as well as humane aspects.

In that vein, today’s links are here to help you know more about where your meat comes from than you knew before. Here at Kettlebell Kitchen, we’re proud to source the highest quality meats, poultry, fish, and seafood we can find, favoring wild-caught over farmed fish/seafood and grass-fed over grain-fed beef.

Local farming and the fight for quality food
The disappearing pig, a.k.a. butcher-as-artist (video)
Just watch the animals
Artisan butchers (does artisanal even mean anything anymore?)
The kill floor (video)
“American Meat,” the documentary (coming soon to NYC!)

Remember, every Tuesday & Thursday bring a new batch of KBK Links. If you want to catch up on past KBK Link posts, just click here for all posts tagged “KBK Links.”