Butcher Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Comfort Food Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Butcher Wrote:
> >
> > I actually have no idea if anything you have
> said
> > here is true or not. We can assume you do NOT
> have
> > agenda so "it is true" for this reply at
> least.
> >
> > So...my questions are "why should we as
> > end-consumers care?" and "Are you saying that
> meat
> > packed "in gas" is in some manner inferior to
> meat
> > not packed in gas?".
> >
> > These are real questions from someone who eats
> > meat, not cuts meat...
> >
> > =======
> >
> > Yes, of COURSE these questions spring from
> > thinking "straw man" for most arguments against
> > change.
>
> That's a really good question. I had to think
> about what to say. There really isn't any reason
> for the average consumer to care. I don't
> merchandise as much as I used to because I've
> found in a lot of locations people just don't have
> the time or skills to cook as they did years ago.
> We don't even have a price for such things as
> shell steaks anymore. Part of the retail business
> involves convincing the consumer to buy whether
> it's worth buying or not. There isn't any reason
> for the butter you buy to be yellow except some
> study found yellow more appealing than white. Most
> people think bright red is an appealing color for
> fresh meat. It's not, brown is a natural color.
> Red is the iron in blood turning to rust from
> oxygen. Gases will keep the meat bright red,
> making people think it's a fresh cut. My job is to
> provide a truely fresh product as opposed to a
> product that only appears to be fresh.I guess all
> I can say is I see my job as providing something
> worth its value as opposed to something that aims
> to the lowest denominator because the powers that
> be know you won't know any better. This is the
> erosion of American quality.
It's not just the packing. Without a butcher, you can't get a trimmed/tied/just the size you want/from the cut you prefer like the one I just rotisseried from Harris Teeter. Admittedly Harris Teeter doesn't hang sides in their meat locker, but you'll never get that kind of customization Pennsylvania.
What Giant (Ahold) doesn't understand and Harris Teeter/Wegmans do is, Fairfax/Loudoun have enough people with upper middle/low rich wealth/incomes to demand and get semi-custom products when they want them. They go to Costco or the web for undifferentiated stuff. The semi-customized products, the kind of butchering that Fairfax wants/can afford, are "mass customized" -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_customization
And, if Fairfax residents can't get mass customized, they switch from the Giant at Franklin Farm to the Harris Teeter on Sunrise.