Sampling the local cuisine is one of the most enjoyable aspects of traveling, in my view. And if you don’t happen to have a kitchen or kitchen access on your travels, it’s a necessity.
My blog has been irregularly updated lately because I’m in Palm Springs, California. My travel companions and I were out sampling local cuisine just a few days ago — coincidentally the same day the United States Department of Agriculture announced it is scrapping its National Animal Identification System. It now plans to develop something more palatable to farmers, ranchers and agricultural groups.
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Why is that announcement relevant? On the menu at The Falls restaurant, a tony eatery on Highway 111 in the heart of Palm Springs, were two items promising traceability: the 14 ounce New York strip and the 16 ounce grilled double cut Berkshire pork chop. Said the menu: “These cuts of meat are free of hormones and antibiotics, have been fed a 100% vegetarian diet, and are traceable to place of birth.”
Do tell, I said to my companions. One of them, with my gentle encouragement, ordered the New York strip. I was tempted to order the pork chop, purely as an investigative measure, but I’d recently had an encounter with a large pig (see photo) and almost as large a plate of ribs. It will be some time until I can face pork again. So I ordered the petit fillet instead, in the interests of checking on the quality of U.S. beef compared to that on the Prairies. The sacrifices one must make for this newspaper’s research!
Once our steaks had been served, sampled and found to be delicious, I asked the server about the traceability claim. In short order, one of the owners appeared. He told us he had bought that particular restaurant (and possibly others) shortly before BSE was discovered in the U.S., in December 2003. He and his partners were worried (he mentioned something about sweat and bullets) and decided to buy their meat from Newport Meats, a firm in Irvine, California. This particular firm, said the restaurant owner, buys only from certain suppliers who meet its exacting standards. Thus he felt the restaurant could make a traceability claim on some cuts of meat, even though there is no national traceability program in the U.S.
After peppering the man with a few dozen questions, I could tell he was wondering about my unusual interest in the topic. Diners at surrounding tables were staring and my dinner companions were getting restive. So, I let the poor guy get away, with thanks for the information. Later I looked up Newport Meats and found this on its website: “We have selected suppliers that meet our exact standards and that can deliver every time. Newport’s boutique packers are small enough to be attentive to our cattle selection and custom trim requirements, yet big enough to fabricate beef for our largest accounts.”
So, it’s possible that if I had pressed the matter — and if I weren’t on vacation — I might have been able to determine the farm where that New York strip originated. But no similar offer was made regarding my petit fillet which, judging from the excellent flavour and texture, might very well have originated on the Canadian Prairies. Restaurant meat doesn’t have to go through the country-of-origin labeling rules, as all you beef producers know.
