Glorious Beef

The LaFrieda Family and the Evolution of the American Meat Industry

By: Pat LaFrieda, Cecilia Molinari

Narrated by: Brian Hutchison

An insightful and engaging insider’s look at the real story of the meat industry, from master butcher Pat LaFrieda.

It all began when Pat LaFrieda’s great-grandfather Anthony LaFrieda decided to pack up and move his family from Italy to New York in search of a better life, setting up the family’s first retail butcher shop in 1922 in Flatbush, Brooklyn. Almost 100 years later, Pat LaFrieda, a fourth-generation butcher and third-generation meat purveyor, is at the helm of a family-run business that has been providing meat to customers for decades, through wars, the Great Depression, the tumultuous years when New York City was dubbed “Fear City”, the fall of the Twin Towers, unprecedented hurricanes, and even a pandemic.

Most people don’t know the amount of time, commitment, and extenuating work that goes into bringing them the piece of meat on their plate. What are the real implications of grass-fed beef on climate change? What is involved in humanely processing animals at harvesting facilities? Why is grading, labeling, and traceability essential for the consumer? And what’s the beef with eating meat?

There are two sides to every story; however, in the beef industry’s case, only one side seems to get most of the airtime. In Glorious Beef, LaFrieda shares his family's legacy and pulls back the curtain to reveal a behind-the-scenes view of each stage of the process involved in bringing beef from pasture to plate and the truths behind the industry’s story of survival and constant evolution.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

©2021 Pat LaFrieda (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers

Very interesting!

An interesting look into the world of beef and all that goes with it.

Excellent Beginning to End

Didn’t want it to end ! Narration is good and we all know that’s the key. Rich Family history with deep insight to the meat industry. Even better-The business lessons learned. Cheers to Pat !!

Autobiography of a man who did what he loved.

This is the autobiography of a man who fell in love with meat cutting at the age of 10, and fought hard to join the family meat cutting business. Then he grew the business, and this is the story of that as well. He also gives considerable insight into how the meat business works, from the farm to the consumer, and everything in between.