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Thu 6 Apr 2006 7:01
by Kevin McGehee
in Coweta County, GA
2 comments
[Yee-haw!]
[Yippee-Ki-Yay!]
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When someone mentions bison, they’re likely to conjure up images of Native Americans hunting huge herds of the beasts on picturesque, sweeping plains, or at least of some really bland exhibit in a natural history museum depicting the same.
But the interest in bison meat for human consumption has brought the animal back from numbers dwindling around 1,000 in the early 1900s to more than 300,000 on modern farms and ranches today. Indeed, this is not your great-great-great grandfather’s buffalo.
[...]
So why the sudden interest in the meat? It’s actually not that sudden. Demand for high-end cuts of bison originally boomed in the ‘90s, which sent everyone scrambling to build herds and competing to buy animals, Dave Carter, Executive Director of the National Bison Association (NBA) said. But the consumers’ appetite for the meat didn’t last. After about a four-year slump, demand went up again in 2003, except this time people were interested in using the less expensive cuts for things like burgers and meatloaf, not just the high-end steaks.
“[Consumers] are gravitating toward all the cuts of meat, which is very important to the ranchers. You’ve got to be able to sell the whole animal to make a living at it, “ Carter said.
According to the NBA, bison meat has less fat than turkey, beef and chicken. It’s loaded with Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA), which studies say may actually help reduce body fat while preserving muscle tissue. The NBA also says that eating a 5 oz. serving of buffalo 4-5 times a week can help the health conscious reduce cholesterol levels.» FoxNews: Jump On the Buffalo Bandwagon
On a local note, it appears that the Newnan location of Ted Turner’s bison-oriented eatery, Ted’s Montana Grill, has closed down—though the chain seems to still be in business.
The bad news is, we still have Starbucks.
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