As many of you know one of our primary objectives for 2016 is to better utilize the entire animal! Katie and I believe that as a conscious carnivore, the best way to honor the majestic animals that have given their lives to produce nourishing food is by minimizing our waste. While a "snout to tail" approach to eating is becoming more mainstream at farm to table restaurants, EPIC is the first retail brand to adopt this mindful way of using more of the animal!
With 2016 launches that include time tested animal cooking oils (derived from rendering fat), ready to drink bone broth (cooked from bones), and organ meat jerky (grass fed beef liver = superfood) EPIC is successfully using up to 70% of the entire animal! Just to add perspective, other meat snack companies frequently use between 3-8%l!
Through the launch of our Whole Animal Project we are learning a lot about consumer mindfulness and a shared appreciation for honoring the beautiful animals that we consume. While the large majority of our customers love the mission behind our nose to tail approach, there is one recurring comment that we need to demystify. There is nothing that boils my blood more than when someone refers to alternative cuts of an animal as "scraps", "waste", or "trash". These consumers have lost touch with the living creatures that died to provide us with restoring nutrition and are programmed to believe that ultra lean steak is the only "prime" meat on an animal!
Lets shift the narrative and stop referring to once living animals as "scrap", "waste", or "trash". The obvious beginning to reframing the consumption of different parts of an animals starts with our human ancestors. For millions of years carnivores (homo sapiens, wolves, bears, and other hunters) cherished the whole animal. After killing prey these hunters would instinctively consume cuts of the animal such as organs, fatty muscle meat, and bone marrow before touching the "prized" lean steaks of modern culture. By listening to instinct, hunters intuitively learned that these cuts of the animal were most nourishing (full of vitamins, minerals, and life sustaining energy). Consistent with nature, our human ancestors took a nose to tail approach to eating and used up to 100% of the animal. Nothing was wasted and an appreciation for every animal killed was expressed throughout daily life.
Reconnecting to this deep appreciation is a key component to EPIC's Whole Animal Project. If a spiritual connection to the creatures and land that provide you with food is too much for you, we encourage you to visit a local ranch or farm and reconnect with the source of your protein. Remember, consuming more of the animal is the purest way to honor the once living creature that gave its life to become food and also provides some of the most nourishing sustenance on the planet. Its an EPIC way to appreciate your place in the food chain and allows you to "eat like a wolf."
