Where can I buy non-factory farmed meat in Seattle? for Questionland Seattle

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Where can I buy non-factory farmed meat in Seattle?

I am a vegetarian and my partner is not. I've been doing all of the cooking and food shopping, but a vegetarian-at-home diet doesn't work for her. I'd like to support factory farms as little as possible. Where can we buy humanely raised and slaughtered meat from family farms? Any grocery stores? I know that farmer's markets are probably a good place to start, but has anyone researched any of the farms? Ideally this farm would be up to Certified Humane (http://www.certifiedhumane.org/) standards, but I'll go with whatever's closest. Also, I'm interested in sources for wild, sustainably-caught fish that don't involve a lot of by-catch, if that's even possible.

lindsay l asked in Meat 11 months ago | Report

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Go to Rain Shadow Meats! They are great—excellent sourcing, really nice, will guide you to good values if you're on a budget...

Regarding Bill the Butcher: Here's some info on them with a link to another story. I understand they're labeling a lot more of their product now, but the nominal Bill has reportedly departed the company... it's all been a little too peculiar for my taste.

Bethany Jean Clement answered in Meat 11 months ago | Report

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Thanks for the extra info on Bill the Butcher. I was already suspicious of their labeling after a visit to their website - now I'm just going to avoid them full stop. If I trusted farms to self-regulate, I would buy meat at QFC.

lindsay l commented 11 months ago | Report

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Technically I'm not sure if Rainshadow visits all the farms either, but they do ask the local farms specific questions about their products and practices, and avoid all the farms that can't or refuse to answer the questions. That's why some meats they simply can't stock, they don't know any local providers within their specifications.

Black Beetles in Amber commented 11 months ago | Report

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It's probably not realistic to expect a butcher to visit all the farms (though it sure would be awesome), but it sounds like they have high standards.

lindsay l commented 11 months ago | Report

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PCC scored the highest in the country by the Monterey Bay Aquarium for seafood sustainability. I know all their meats are pretty much all local (within 300 miles or whatever) and you can almost always ask where things are from and they can tell you. Their meats and seafood are also at a really reasonable price.

stainer answered in Meat 11 months ago | Report

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That's good to know! Is there a list of grocery stores/restaurants that scored near the top? I'd like to find out who else is up there.

3rd party verification, like a report from the Monterey Bay Aquarium, is exactly what I'm looking for. I don't trust PCC's word alone because of a friend's experience working for a farm that supplied them with cage free chicken eggs. The conditions at that farm were terrible enough to turn him vegan, but the eggs were marketed as humane at PCC.

Anyway, I'll definitely check out their fish!

lindsay l commented 11 months ago | Report

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i'm sorry, it was Greenpeace, not MBA. they publish a report every year for the top 20 retailers in the country, so PCC would not be on it, but there is a neat little tool on their website that gives stores in each region in the country.

http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/oceans/seafood/supermarket/

Becky Selengut, a local author, has recently published a gorgeous new cookbook about seafood sustainability called Good Fish, which has tons of information. It's all over town, it should be easy to find. She has said that Mashiko in West Seattle 100% uses only sustainable fish for sushi.

stainer commented 11 months ago | Report

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That's awesome! Thanks for the Greenpeace list. I'm surprised Whole Foods scored scored lower than Target & Safeway.

I'll have to check out Good Fish.

lindsay l commented 11 months ago | Report

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At one point in time, I didn't approve of Certified Humane's standards, and wrote about it: http://woolypigs.blogspot.com/2009/07/humane-farming-dead-piglets.html

I recommend you raise your own animals, kill them yourself and cut them up yourself. I have a very different relationship to meat from animals I've killed and cut up myself. I treat it a lot more dearly.

If you've got a backyard, you ought to be able to raise, kill and eat a few chickens or ducks that way.

Heath Putnam Farms answered in Meat 9 months ago | Report

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Check out this farm. I hear it is wonderful:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2LBICPEK6w

Basil answered in Meat 11 months ago | Report

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Madison Market is another good option. I think they sell their seafood with ethics in mind.

Good for you for doing your research by the way.

Sigmund Freud answered in Meat 11 months ago | Report

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Have you ever bought meat from Madison Market? Are the folks behind the counter knowledgeable about where the meat comes from and how it was raised?

My research started while I was reading _Eating Animals_ by Jonathan Safran Foer. I told my partner about how chicken is processed during slaughter and the next day she said, "I can't eat chicken anymore." And then she made the saddest face.

lindsay l commented 11 months ago | Report

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