"I am myself plus my circumstances"

thedailywhat:

Lights Out: Larry Althiser, a professional meat cutter with over 30 years of experience, owns and operates the Hartwick, NY-based meat processor Larry’s Custom Meats — a slaughterhouse with a sensitive side.

“A lot of people, ‘oh you kill for a living’,” Althiser tells Liza de Guia in The Good Slaughter. “Well, you know, yeah I do, but, you know, that animal needs to be treated right.”

The sad fact is that “skilled, artisanal type butchers” who take pride in their work and thrive on transparency are mostly nonexistent. According to Department of Agriculture figures, factory farms account for “more than 99 percent of all farmed animals raised and slaughtered in the United States.” The butchering of animals at Larry’s processing plant may not be very appetizing, but it’s done with the kind of humanity that is sorely missing from an industry that long ago forgot the need for heart.

(Caution: Video contains graphic footage of animals being slaughtered.)

[foodcurated / reddit.]

Don’t watch if you have a weak stomach, just listen. This is how meat processing should be.