Post: #26

A bougie SWPL Butcher shop just opened in my area, they are indeed making a come back and the prices match their clientele. I could never imagine a old school Jewish or Porto Rican guy trying to charge 9 bucks a pound for some ground chuck burgers but these guys do. No hate I just wish I didn't have to save up for a month just to afford a steak from there.

It's a art I respect though. I really want to be a butcher, it's been something for a year I've been interested in, just not sure how to get into the bizz.

Post: #27

(06-30-2013 06:55 PM)kosko Wrote:  A bougie SWPL Butcher shop just opened in my area, they are indeed making a come back and the prices match their clientele. I could never imagine a old school Jewish or Porto Rican guy trying to charge 9 bucks a pound for some ground chuck burgers but these guys do. No hate I just wish I didn't have to save up for a month just to afford a steak from there.

It's a art I respect though. I really want to be a butcher, it's been something for a year I've been interested in, just not sure how to get into the bizz.

It's funny, I know this old school Mexican butcher/meat cutting shop nestled in a grocery store, and the prices are great. But it's in a rapidly gentrifying area with lots of SWPL and expensive restaurants. But you know none of the SWPL shop there. The place is dying to be renovated and turned out into some SWPL fantasy land with triple the prices. There's a yuppie supermarket nearby that is just killing it and flowing with hotties, but this place mostly gets Mexicans and people passing through looking for a quick simple purchase.

Post: #28

(06-30-2013 06:06 PM)basilransom Wrote:  

(06-30-2013 05:41 PM)Timoteo Wrote:  

(06-30-2013 05:03 PM)thegmanifesto Wrote:  

(06-30-2013 04:53 PM)basilransom Wrote:  If SWPLs continue on their trajectory, I could see local, high end butchers staging a comeback in select areas. They probably already have in NYC.

That would be a damn good thing to have comeback.

One of the best things about Europe are the markets/butchershops/fishmongers etc.

I really miss this. I grew up in East/Spanish Harlem, and back then, there was a small fish market right across the street from the #6 subway entrance on 103rd Street. My dad used to grab crabs, clams, an occasional lobster and all kinds of fish from there (he grew up in a seaport town - Charleston, SC). La Marqueta, which was along Park Avenue under the Metro-North train tracks, also had fish, produce, and all kinds of goods that Puerto Ricans and Dominicans had back home. My dad used to also hit a local butcher shop. We have a couple of generations that probably don't know what a butcher shop is - everything comes from the supermarket for the most part.

It's unfortunate, but it's easy to see why the butcher shops disappeared. Proper butchering requires a lot of space, it's unpalatable to yuppies, and has many steps. It's a lot easier and cheaper to teach a bunch of cheap laborers to do just one part of the process, over and over, for tens or hundreds of thousands of carcasses per day, instead of being a master 'general practitioner' that carves up the carcass from A to Z. Plus, you don't have to use up expensive urban real estate hanging carcasses on hooks and the like.

If you were slaughtering your own meat, would you really give a fuck when someone said something mildly offensive? When you've got your hands buried in blood and guts, it's hard to care about petty shit like 'feelings.' I'd love to slaughter a cow once and take the meat, just to gain an appreciation for the process.

Yep. "The Meatpacking" district of NYC hasn't had any meatpacking going on there in some time. It's all bars and clubs...hahaha! Fulton Fish Market got moved to the Bronx years ago. Prime real estate, and its considered wasted if there's something like a market there.

One of the cooler aspects of "No Reservations" was when there was a scene where an animal got slaughtered right on the spot, skinned and carved up, then cooked right there. They should have had the episodes, uncut (they always edit out the slaughter in the episode that aired), on DVD so we could see the process.

The disappearance of the butcher shop runs hand-in-hand with the disappearance of the old-school tailor. It's an artisan craft, and something that was passed down through generations. At a certain point, younger cats stopped taking up the craft, so there was no one for the old guys to pass it to. More cost-efficient methods were developed, so the artisan got pushed aside.

Post: #29

(06-30-2013 07:06 PM)Timoteo Wrote:  Yep. "The Meatpacking" district of NYC hasn't had any meatpacking going on there in some time. It's all bars and clubs...hahaha! Fulton Fish Market got moved to the Bronx years ago. Prime real estate, and its considered wasted if there's something like a market there.

One of the cooler aspects of "No Reservations" was when there was a scene where an animal got slaughtered right on the spot, skinned and carved up, then cooked right there. They should have had the episodes, uncut (they always edit out the slaughter in the episode that aired), on DVD so we could see the process.

The disappearance of the butcher shop runs hand-in-hand with the disappearance of the old-school tailor. It's an artisan craft, and something that was passed down through generations. At a certain point, younger cats stopped taking up the craft, so there was no one for the old guys to pass it to. More cost-efficient methods were developed, so the artisan got pushed aside.

This is pretty far afield, but I've always wondered if a revival of crafts like tailoring and butchering could be a solution to the offshoring and automation of vast numbers of jobs. Problem is, Americans show no appetite for paying a little more upfront for higher quality and longevity. Americans live to buy new cheap shit constantly. They're also extremely intimidated by anything tasteful and call it 'snobby.' I'm prepared to think otherwise when they stop waddling around at 300 lbs in cargo shorts and t-shirts with big Old Navy logos.

Hell, even I'm guilty of buying cheaply made clothing sometimes.

Post: #30

(06-30-2013 07:16 PM)basilransom Wrote:  

(06-30-2013 07:06 PM)Timoteo Wrote:  Yep. "The Meatpacking" district of NYC hasn't had any meatpacking going on there in some time. It's all bars and clubs...hahaha! Fulton Fish Market got moved to the Bronx years ago. Prime real estate, and its considered wasted if there's something like a market there.

One of the cooler aspects of "No Reservations" was when there was a scene where an animal got slaughtered right on the spot, skinned and carved up, then cooked right there. They should have had the episodes, uncut (they always edit out the slaughter in the episode that aired), on DVD so we could see the process.

The disappearance of the butcher shop runs hand-in-hand with the disappearance of the old-school tailor. It's an artisan craft, and something that was passed down through generations. At a certain point, younger cats stopped taking up the craft, so there was no one for the old guys to pass it to. More cost-efficient methods were developed, so the artisan got pushed aside.

This is pretty far afield, but I've always wondered if a revival of crafts like tailoring and butchering could be a solution to the offshoring and automation of vast numbers of jobs. Problem is, Americans show no appetite for paying a little more upfront for higher quality and longevity. Americans live to buy new cheap shit constantly. They're also extremely intimidated by anything tasteful and call it 'snobby.' I'm prepared to think otherwise when they stop waddling around at 300 lbs in cargo shorts and t-shirts with big Old Navy logos.

Hell, even I'm guilty of buying cheaply made clothing sometimes.

You also see this in construction/building trades. The art has been eliminated, because it requires expertise and is time-consuming. Everything is pretty much plain, prefab and spit out by a factory. We try to preserve as many old buildings as we can, but you don't see anything new going up that looks like it.

There are certain clothing items you can get away with going cheap on, but if you're a man that wears suits, you need to invest in some good ones. Good shirts and other accessories are also necessary if you need, or want to dress frequently. Good costs. To a certain extent, we've been convinced that what we have available to us IS quality, because we're so far removed from a generation where our clothing really was made with care and skill. Men of means, or at least those that have traveled and have the interest, still get suits made outside the country, but most guys wouldn't even think about that.

Post: #31

Can't go wrong with these...