BC0A4 0C 6>0CB These cranial centerpieces from Primal stare right back.
Owing to Slow Food activism and eyeopening films like Food, Inc., awareness of factory farming’s harmful effects has hit the mainstream hard in the last year. According to Danielle Nierenberg’s Happier Meals: Rethinking the Global Meat Industry, industrialized factory farming is responsible for 74 percent of the world’s poultry products, 50 percent of all pork and 43 percent of beef. When meat is eaten in the United States, it generally comes from one of nine enormous and chemically robust packing houses, the type that inspired Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle and, as Guggiana points out, Henry Ford’s assembly line. Guggiana calls the butchery phenomenon a “perfect storm� of sustainability, food awareness and an increasing DIY aesthetic seen in the rise of sewing, crafting, kinetic art and rudimentary repair. “It’s just that none of us do anything, none of us make anything,� she explains. “None of us have that sort of integrity in our life. We buy everything, everything appears in our life readymade— even our entertainment. I really believe that’s soul-sapping. So when you get turned on to doing something that’s that simple, and seeing it from start to finish, it’s so satisfying. “Because of the assembly line,� Guggiana adds, “people have lost that knowing-thewhole-animal skill. Guys who work in grocery stores, they might know a little bit; they’ll know how to cut steaks and everything, but they’re getting in what’s called ‘primal cuts,’ which are the shoulder, the loin, the belly. They might know what to do with it from there. They wouldn’t know what to do with a carcass. I mean, you’ll find some old guys. Every couple stores, you’ll meet some guy who’s like, ‘I love to break down a carcass!’ Because that’s what they
learned to do when they were starting out. No one does that now.�
Killing the Chicken Gwendolynn Gunheim had been a vegetarian most of her life until last month, when she bought a chicken, turned it upsidedown into a pylon cone hanging from her backyard tree, stuck a knife into its neck and watched it spasm into death. Gunheim, 25, and boyfriend Nick Haig-Arack, 28, then dunked, feathered and gutted the bird, engaging in the most basic rituals of meat eating—and, to modern eaters, one of the most taboo. “I just felt like it was time,� Gunheim explains of her apostasy from vegetarianism, “but I only wanted to do it that way.� With the maxim that if one eats meat, one should also be able to look the animal in the eye and kill it oneself, Gunheim didn’t sign up for any slaughter classes or check any bustling online message boards. She simply opened her copy of The Encyclopedia of Country Living, turned to the chapter on poultry and went for it. Last week, it was Haig-Arack’s turn. The two drove out to Gleason Ranch, a sixth-generation farm outside of Bodega specializing in grass-fed lamb, beef, pork and poultry, and picked up a live chicken. Once home, they strung their pylon cone from the tree and positioned it over a galvanized bucket. Haig-Arack placed the bird on a stump, thanked it, chopped its neck with an axe and drained it in the cone. Three hours and plenty of garlic, lemon and butter later, Gunheim opened their Wedgwood oven and served dinner. This young couple aren’t alone. In the wake of Novella Carpenter’s '%
Traditional 3 Course Menu (Choice of one of the following)
Homemade New England Style Clam Chowder or Butter Letttuce Salad with fresh pear, toasted pecans,
Annual Thanksgiving Dinner Thursday, Nov 26, Noon–7pm
and feta cheese, lightly tossed in house Italian dressing
Entrees
(Choice of one of the following)
Fresh Oven Roasted Turkey or Country Glazed Petaluma Baked Ham traditional cornbread stuffing, creamy mashed potatoes and gravy, candied yams, and homemade cranberry sauce
Salmon Wellington with wild mushroom duxelle, topped with champagne sauce and served with rice pilaf and roasted vegetables Prime Rib with Yorkshire pudding, baked potato and roasted vegetables
Desserts
(Choice of one of the following) Pumpkin Pie, Apple Pie a la Mode, Pecan Pie, or
Reservations Advised
Chocolate Decadence Cake
415-662-2219
3495 Adults/ 2995 Seniors 65+ 2495 Children under 10
On the Town Square, Nicasio www.ranchonicasio.com
Three-Course Vegetarian Dinner available by reservation
THE BOHEMIAN
11.18.09-11.24.09
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