Butcher Rob Levitt: Eating More Good Meat Is Not A Stretch

This is national Meat Week. We at FamilyFarmed advocate for foods, including meat, that are produced as locally as possible using sustainable, humane and fair practices. So who better to help us inform readers about why this is important than Chicago’s Rob Levitt, whose store The Butcher & Larder embeds those principles in how they source and sell their beef, pork, lamb and poultry.

Gunthorp Farms: When Growing Young Farmers Is All In The Family

by Kara Gunthorp, guest contributor Kara Gunthorp joined the family sustainably raised livestock business — Indiana’s Gunthorp Farms — shortly after her graduation last year from Purdue University, an experience she shared in the initial article in our Growing Young Farmers series. Kara is making a return appearance here, discussing how her younger brother Evan Read more about Gunthorp Farms: When Growing Young Farmers Is All In The Family[…]

Butcher Rob Levitt’s Good Food Festival Ham Class Builds on His Customer Service Efforts

Rob Levitt of The Butcher & Larder at Local Foods, one of Chicago’s leading butcher shops, is conducting a ham-curing workshop at FamilyFarmed’s Good Food Festival on March 26. Read here about Levitt’s love of ham, his dedication to providing the highest quality products, and his devotion to consumer education about meat.

Mint Creek cattle

First Person: The Great Debate of Grass-Fed Versus Grain-Fed Beef

When Harry Carr and his family started Mint Creek Farm in the 1990s, few American consumers had even heard of grass-fed beef, no less bought it for their dinner tables. That has changed dramatically, yet here is still plenty of consumer confusion about the advantages of grass-fed, and plenty of pushback from conventional producers who argue there are no real benefits to choosing grass-fed beef over grain-fed.

Rob Levitt charcuterie workshop at the Good Food Festival
Rob Levitt of Chicago's The Butcher & Larder

Chicago Butcher Rob Levitt on the Meaning of Good Meat and His Local Foods Move

Rob Levitt established himself as a major figure on Chicago’s food scene when he and his wife Allie opened The Butcher & Larder meat shop four years ago. Here Rob Levitt discusses his somewhat unexpected career as a butcher and his hopes for bigger things with his upcoming move, expected this spring, into a larger space in the new Local Foods retail store.

A Chicago Ranch movie

First Person: The Lasting Impact of Frank Morgan, Local Grass-Fed Beef Pioneer

Mark Wilhelms is founder and chief executive of Red Meat Market, which retails local and sustainably produced meat online. One of his inspirations for the company was Frank Morgan, whose pioneering effort to raise grass-fed beef for the nearby Chicago market was the basis for a short film Wilhelm produced shortly before Morgan’s death.

First Person: Top Chicago Butcher Envisions New Heights in Move to Local Foods Store

Rob Levitt of The Butcher & Larder began his culinary career with the aim of becoming a top chef. But he developed an expertise in charcuterie that ultimately piqued his interest in the art of butchery, and four years ago, he and wife Allie opened the Butcher & Larder and quickly developed it into one of Chicago’s favored spots among meat lovers. Now they are preparing for a big step up.

Mother Choriza sausage by Red Meat Market
Kora Lazarski of SPINS

First Person: Approaching Protein Mindfully

by Kora Lazarski, guest contributor Kora Lazarski works in business development for Chicago-based SPINS, which provides retail consumer insights, analytics reporting and consulting for the natural, organic and specialty products industries. July is Protein Month at SPINS marketing studio.And whether we’re sampling cricket snacks and buffalo bars, visiting humane ranches in the Southwest, eating reindeer Read more about First Person: Approaching Protein Mindfully[…]

Article: Holland Sharply Reducing Antibiotics in Meat

An article published on the Next City website reports that the Netherlands is acting assertively to reduce the routine use of antibiotics on livestock “without any negative effects on production rates or profits.” Read a summary (with a link to the full story), and share your thoughts on the issue in the Comments. Good Food on Every Table is your Good Food site… join the conversation.

Chicago's Daley Plaza farmers market with Picasso sculpture

Chicago’s Wurst Festival: Oktoberfest with Good Food Oompah

The three-day Wurst Festival in downtown Chicago’s Daley Plaza this week will feature the key ingredients of any good Oktoberfest: sausages and seasonal beers. What makes this salute to encased meats stand out from most German-style harvest festivals in the U.S. is its emphasis on responsibly and sustainably produced foods from local and regional producers.

Master butcher Kari Underly

Breaking the Glass Ceiling With a Cleaver

Chicago’s Kari Underly is known nationally for her mastery of meatcutting. Now Underly, a third-generation butcher who grew up near South Bend in northern Indiana, is seeking to raise money to create the Range Meat Academy, which she says will be “the most comprehensive butcher training program in the industry.”