I recently had the honour of being invited to a butchery demo in the basement of Cowbell (a very unique restaurant in Toronto). Our friend Margaret Mulligan (the fabulous photographer) was shooting the session and, along with Head Chef, Mark Cutrara, I was offered to come along. I always love the chance to explore something I haven’t seen or tried before – we only write about the experiences that we liked or loved. This was one to love. Today’s article is art 1 of 3 and is a serious comparison of a butcher, a chef and a vegetarian. All of the photos are hers. To see the entire series of posts, click here.
Before scrolling, please understand that this post may be too graphic for some. It’s a photo essay that walks you through our butchery session that we experienced. I like to think that this is what Kerouac meant by “Naked Lunch” when he gave the term to William S. Burroughs.
Margaret’s photography is stunning. She has a passion for food and photography and the intersection of the two. Her professional site is here and her personal photo blog here.
Note the small amount of waste captured towards the end of the photos. The work of Ryan and Mark is inspirational to me and I highly recommend attending a session if you can. Hope you’ve enjoyed the series!
This is an awesome post, Joel. Enlightening, respectful, and responsible. I have such respect for people who see the value of what they consume and do so creatively, deliciously, and socially responsibly.
Just curious, what was the waste made up of? It sounds like they’re pretty crafty in using all the parts, and I’m wondering what qualifies as unusable.
It’s a good point Matt…most of the waste was glands (bitter and unedible) and fat which had the food stamp on. They have even found ways to use the silverskin which I thought to be useless… it is truly stunning what they do and how they use it all. We ate dinner there on Sunday (roast night) and found it fantastic
[...] no graphic photos of the event, but if you want to see an account of a class, Well Preserved ran a relatively comprehensive one recently of a class they [...]