`s best friend. He was the one you went to for all kinds of information about
meat
. Every kind of question from ``What should I have for dinner?`` to ``How do I fix it?``
commonly were asked of the butcher.
But in the early 1940s, that character began to disappear. He first retreated behind glass panels that enclosed sterile-looking cutting rooms. He still was visible, but if you wanted to talk to him you had to ring the bell. And when you did, you often got the feeling that you had thrown a monkey wrench into a well-oiled piece of precision machinery.
Indeed you had. The whole idea behind ``self-service`` meat cases was to eliminate the need for contact between butcher and consumer so that fewer butchers could cut more meat in less time. When you rang the bell, you slowed up the
system
.
Over the years, most butchers were moved even farther from
customers
. Three-tier meat cases replaced glass panels so that it was impossible even to see anyone behind the counter if, indeed, anyone was there at all.
Butchers are not likely to make a sudden comeback. The future may see them moved even farther from contact with consumers. Today, much of the actual meat cutting that butchers used to do at the market is done on assembly lines in packing
houses
. In the future meat people-I won`t call them butchers-at the retail market will have little physical work to do except take precut vacuum- packaged steaks, roasts and chops out of the box they came in and arrange them in the meat case, just like they do with chickens today. They will have plenty of time to answer any questions you may have about meat. And they might even know what they are talking about.
The American Meat Institute recently has initiated a course called the Retail Meat Counselor Training Program. It`s not an apprenticeship program for meatcutters. It`s not going to teach anybody how to break a side of beef or even cut up a chicken, because nobody behind the counter really needs to know any of that kind of stuff anymore. What it will do, if the industry takes
advantage
of it, is ``provide meat department personnel with answers to commonly asked questions about meat.``
Questions about nutrition, for example: Your
doctor
has you on a low-sodium, low-fat diet, but he says you can
eat
meat if you`re careful. What cuts should you buy? Ring the bell and ask your friendly ``meat counselor.``
Questions about cooking meat: You`d like to try cooking a prime
rib
beef roast but you`ve never done it before and don`t want to ruin an expensive cut of meat. Ring the bell. If the person behind the counter has passed the test and is a ``certified meat counselor`` you should be able to get the information you need.
The program is designed to teach meat department employees what they need to know to answer questions from consumers about how to select and buy meat;
how to cook meat properly even in a microwave oven or on a barbecue grill; and about food safety, sanitation and nutrition. It`s not the three- or four-year apprenticeship program that butchers used to go through when they had to learn to cut meat as well as talk to customers. But, it is a program that is needed in today`s meat marketing world.
Just imagine how nice it`s going to be to ring the bell at your local supermarket and be able to talk to a person who knows what he or she is talking about.
I will have to take a look at that AMI training class. Its a shame what the grocery stores have done to our profession. I do feel that there is a tremendous comeback but it will never be like it was when I was growing up in the 60s.
Its fun to watch now about grass-fed and grain fed beef. I think its good to get ideas out in the open. such as if soda is so bad to drink why do we drink so much? If hot dogs are bad for you, why do we eat so much especially when we go to the ball park?
My father had the first kosher butcher store in brooklyn that was self service. It is time and money. How much retail sales can a butcher cut per an hour to justify ther salary.
