So I am in Lexington, NC today. the barbeque capital of the world Or something like that. I'm here to visit my mom and my dog. My dog Saturday was a world traveller before he settled in with my mom 5 years ago. He's lived with us in LA, SF and NYC. Usually I visit a butcher shop, often a carniceria, to get a large cow bone for him for free or 50 cents. My local metropolitan butcher is usually happy just to get rid of the cow femurs and knuckles. So today, I thought it would be a cool idea to get some bones, some rice and some veggie pulp from the juicer and make him some dog food in the crock pot.
Turns out it's not so easy to find a butcher in the USA anymore. We went to the local butcher on Main St, and he attempted to sell us the standard made in china dog treat fare...buy one get one free. No bones there. So we went to the butcher at Wal-Mart. (now I could go on and on lamenting Wal=mart but not here and not now). Anyway, i asked a friendly octogenarian behind the counter if he had any bones. The poor old man looked shocked when I told him I wanted to boil the marrow and give it to my dog. He told me "honey, we ship all this meat on trucks...there's no bones here, just sliced meat." He looked incredibly sad while saying this of course. I pressed on asking about other local shops and he said there's nowhere left in town. He mentioned a shop in another city about a half hour away, but suggested I call ahead just in case.
So now I'm searching on google for my trusty local carniceria. I sure hope I find one. What a disappointment:(
(Photo of a meat can I saw in Spitalfields London, last year)
