Meatopia

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America and Its Meats: An Independence Day Tribute

Posted on July 4th, 2012

Now here it is, the 4th of July. Independence Day. And naturally, my thoughts turn to meat. It gratifies me to no end to look over the our mighty roster, and see the global complexion of our chef roster. From the Indian subcontinent, tandoor master Hemant Mathur; from South America by way of Uruguay, asado savant Santiago Garat. The Korean-Japanese yakiniku prodigy Takashi Inoue. I haven’t told anybody yet, but we are in discussion to bring in a chef from the People’s Republic of China. The BZ Grill guys do remarkable Cypriot sausages. Julia Jaksic is doing her Balkan burger.   And yet, nobody could doubt that this is an utterly American festival. Such is the rich hetereogenity, the complex and fertile diversity of…

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Happy Memories of My Time on the Stun Line

Posted on June 25th, 2012

It was with a sense of deep unease that I approached the Creekstone beef processing plant last month. And not just because I was figuring on seeing a bunch of big, healthy animals get slaughtered in front of me and turned into meat. That wouldn’t necessarily faze me. But having already signed on, and not for the first year, with Creekstone Farms as my beef sponsor, I would have been severely discomfited to see anything ghastly. I knew all about Creekstone, I had had Creekstone vouched for, their plant was the most cutting-edge in the country, personally designed by Temple Grandin. But I still had never been there.   Well, I’ve now been there, and even written a two-part essay about the experience. It…

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Meatopia 2012: Building The City of Meat

Posted on June 21st, 2012

Looking over the Meatopia menu gives its founder an almost immodest pleasure; it must be how Wayne Gretzsky feels when he looks over his eight Hart trophies, or a Davos magnate when he looks at his trophy wife. Such skill, such virtuousity, drawn from across the whole range of gastronomy. Unlike your average meat-fest, which invariably features a dozen or more barbecue cookers all serving identical pulled pork, our menu ranges from the tandoori mastery of Hemant Mathur to the Escoffierian majesty of Harold Moore’s squab. But when I look at it as a whole, it is the “city of meat” concept that pleases me the most.   New York, Meatopia’s home, is the most cosmopolitan of cities. Any one motif, whether it be…

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Adam Perry Lang and the Spirit of Meatopia

Posted on May 19th, 2012

Welcome back to Meatopia. Our new site has just launched, as you can see, and the details of this year’s Meatopia with it. As they did last year, Whole Foods Market is back as our presenting sponsor, and their stirring Best Butcher Contest is the event’s competitive centerpiece.  Our chef roster is, in a word, insane. But then much has changed.  Nine years have passed since the first Meatopia, and although the event is bigger, and so am I, the spirit of the thing is the same. (I’ve even made a point of working up what I think of as the principles of Meatopia, which can be found here.) This year’s iteration returns to the pastoral setting that suits it best, and features what…

Categories: Uncategorized
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