Patti's Pearls: Gem's from a Traveling Cook Book

I won this on Firstreads and rather enjoyed it. It wasn't laid out in a manner that made sense to me, but that just slowed down my reading of it, not my enjoyment.

Schatzker brings us through 8 locations as he eats his way around the world looking for the perfect piece of steak. The story brings us fascinating characters worldwide who all know cows, beef, and what they like. He also brings us through the history of beef in those locations, including a fascinating breeding program by the Nazi's, who tried to recreate the Aurochs, from which cows evolved. This book is of the new style, which tells facts without sourcing it, but does list a Bibliography at the end. In the moment, I'm generally OK with this style, but afterwards, I tend to start doubting certain facts or assumptions.

Either lucky for us or unfortunately, Schatzker's never had that one cut of steak that he'll remember for the rest of his life. In some ways, his search for the perfect steak turns into an Ahabian adventure full of feedlot fillets in both North and South America, concerns about meat overdosing, and distant relations.

Here are my main takeaways. Cows evolved eating mainly grass. Humans evolved eating cows who mainly ate grass. Its healthier to eat cows that mainly eat grass. Cows who eat primarily grass taste better. And finally, happy cows taste better. Cows who hang around all day eating flash boiled corn probably aren't happy, but cows who eat grass, chestnuts, apples and other treats probably are.