For the love of food, craftsmanship and nature

I have worked in the food industry, in some way or another, for what feels like most of my life.

I started out as a waiter working in small bistros in Lyon, France as I put myself through school. I moved into the kitchen, starting out as a line cook at a casual restaurant and eventually working at large steakhouses and upscale restaurants. When I realized that I wanted to focus my career in the food industry, I decided to go to culinary school. While I already had quite a bit of experience at that point, I had never been formally trained and I knew culinary school would give me the opportunity to take my cooking to the next level. Afterwards, I was lucky enough to work for some extremely talented chefs at several Michelin starred restaurants in New York City. I loved many aspects of the kitchen – the creativity, respect for ingredients, and overall quest for excellence and perfection. But after several years I found myself searching for something more…

At this time I also became a father. My wife and I became much more conscious about the food we were eating and feeding to our children. It was crucial for us to have access to quality ingredients that we trusted, in particular for meat where we felt we lacked transparency to how animals were raised and handled before they ended up in a package at a typical grocery store. I started talking to some local farmers to learn more, and I was inspired by their vision and commitment to ethically and humanely raising animals. I started reading about sustainable farming practices, and two books in particular had a large influence over me… 1) Pasture Perfect by Jo Robinson (which chronicles, with scientific research, the numerous benefits of eating meat from pasture raised animals and 2) The River Cottage MEAT Book by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (a meat lovers and cookers “bible” to basically everything meat). I decided to attend a butchery training program at Fleischer’s in Kingston, NY, which have been pioneers in the whole animal butchery movement. Slowly it all started coming together and I knew I had found what I wanted to do…

Becoming a butcher was a way for me to combine my love of food, craftsmanship and nature. I also love being part of a community of like-minded people, from our farmers to our customers. My goal is to provide our customers with the most nutritious and delicious tasting meats they have ever had, from farmers they would be inspired to know. And I hope that through The Pastoral Pig, we can be a small part of changing the way people think about what they eat.