SUDDENLY, butchers are hot.
They’re splashed across the New York Times and foodie magazines. They’re
celebrated in books, such as Julie Powell’s provocative “Cleaving,” and
magazines like the Bay Area’s MeatPaper. These modern-day meat cleavers draw
crowds at meat-centric events ranging from Oakland’s recent Pork Prom to the
sold-out butchery classes being held across the Bay Area, from San Jose to
Sebastopol.
There’s more to this than retro appeal or some particularly extreme DIY hobby.
It’s an unexpected by-product, says Powell, of the last decade’s heightened food
consciousness, a surging interest in artisanal food, and a deep concern for
transparency in American food production.
Massimo Spigaroli, for example, an Italian salumiere whose client list includes
Prince Charles and Sophia Loren, flew into town recently for pork butchery
master classes sponsored by Oakland’s Live Culture. TLC Ranch, a family-run farm
near Watsonville, offers daylong pig and chicken workshops. And San Francisco
meat man Ryan Farr dubbed a “rock star butcher” by the New York Times last
summer not only teaches butchery classes in his test kitchen, he runs sporadic
cocktail-and-butchery parties at Bloodhound, a South of Market bar.
Photo Caption: Butcher Ryan Farr cuts bacon at his kitchen in San Francisco’s
Potrero Hill area on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2010. Farr is the owner of 4505 Meats,
and sells his products to restaurants and farmer’s markets in the Bay Area.
Photo Credit: Jane Tyska/Staff
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