Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg grabbed a lot of headlines last week when he told an interviewer he had decided to forego for a year eating animals that he doesn't kill and prepare himself. A goat, a pig, and a chicken have already succumbed to his butcher's knife, he said.
That inspired The Butchers’ Guild, a Bay Area-based network of “sustainably-minded butchers and eaters” to issue Zuckerberg a public invitation to join them.
Marissa Guggiana, co-founder of the guild and author of the book Primal Cuts, lauds Zuckerberg for joining the slaughtering ranks.
“It was amazing to us that he had made that decision and we just wanted to celebrate it and comment on it,” she said. “In working on my book, I spent a lot of time talking to home cooks about where their protein comes from and getting closer to the source, but it remains very niche-y. I hope that someone outside of the food community being committed to this will put a spotlight on it that will be exciting or enlightening for other people. It's just as much an environmental issue and a health issue as it is a taste or gourmet obsession. “
But while a moneybags like Mark Zuckerberg might be able to find the time, money and space to slaughter and butcher an animal, and to store the final product, I suggested, mightn't the average Bay Area meat eater find the process daunting? Guggiana said when it comes to being more conscious about where your meat comes, you don't necessarily have to go whole hog.