07/01/2005
Not So Prime Cuts
It's probably bad form to do two meat-related posts one right after the other but I saw something yesterday that made me want to become a vegetarian. All this week I've been running around to various spots in Brooklyn shooting photos on an assignment I was given for a magazine. One of my stops was at the famous Peter Luger steakhouse in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Now I love a good steak every now and then, but just as I was standing outside the entrance at the corner of the restaurant, a garbage truck pulled up, and in full view of the patrons gnawing their T-bones inside the place, began dumping garbagefuls of meat waste into the back of the truck. My stomach turned and I wasn't even chewing on anything. Pink Floyd's The Wall anyone?
Sorry, just needed to share.
Posted 1:30 PM EST by Andy Towle in New York, Photography | Permalink
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Posted by: CriticalRN | Jul 1, 2005 1:37:32 PM
thanks for the vomitous image.
Posted by: liberal server | Jul 1, 2005 1:47:40 PM
I can't wait for the bar b que this weekend
Lovely image
Posted by: Donald | Jul 1, 2005 2:05:37 PM
Makes my Vegan lunch I'm eating so much more appealing...
Not normally being one to proselytize, I can't pass up the opportunity here. I switched to a vegetarian diet a 1-1/2 years ago and think it's one of the best things I've ever done. I feel healthier, know I'm making a big impact on the environment, and don't have to deal with the denial of the torture of animals to satisfy my palate.
Not being able to keep up the gay gym physique was why I thought it would never work for me. Well, that has not been a problem. And besides... Vegans taste better. ;)
Posted by: Atlanta | Jul 1, 2005 2:12:46 PM
I'm not sure, but isn't disposal of meat like that illegal? I thought there was supposed to be some sort of legal or approved disposal of raw meat like that.
Or is it just a New York thing...??
At any rate, I think I'll have a salad for lunch!
Posted by: Xade | Jul 1, 2005 2:38:14 PM
That's a gross image, but I just like meat too much to give it up entirely. I don't normally order veal, although I love it, so I guess that's my contribution to the animal world. (I think it's the cruelty that makes the veal taste so delicious.)
That last sentence was a joke by the way. (Lame, but a joke.) :-)
Posted by: Brian | Jul 1, 2005 2:39:22 PM
All trash looks gross in the dump truck, what's the big deal?
Posted by: Michael | Jul 1, 2005 2:48:36 PM
Like Atlanta, I too switched to the veggie lifestyle about a year ago. It was tough, having grown up on a cattle ranch. It wasn't living in a house with several SF uber-veggies/vegans that did it, though. It was reading Howard Lyman's "Mad Cowboy" and a few other sources that helped me make an informed choice to go organic and veggie. I'll likely never eat beef again, but chicken sure does smell tasty on occasion.
Posted by: Logan | Jul 1, 2005 4:38:50 PM
As much as I hate to admit it, that kind of waste in the restaurant/catering industry isn't rare. It's actually cheaper for them to throw excess into the garbage than it is for them to hold on to it and give to a homeless shelter. There's also issues of cross contamination of raw foods that put the shelters at risk on a legal level.
Posted by: Kitchenbeard | Jul 1, 2005 5:04:26 PM
I consider myself a "carnan" after taking up the Atkins diet a few years ago; back then I immediately lost 25 lbs, and kept it off for 5 years; I'm 41 years old and I've maintaned a 30w and 140-150 lbs. Never been healthier!
Maybe once and a while I'll splurge and treat myself to a vegetable now and then...but by and large...I'm a proud carnan!
Posted by: Cassius | Jul 1, 2005 5:39:52 PM
I used to love across the street from Peter Lugar, and it wasn't until the cops "secured" the area underneath the Willyburg Bride (next to Peter Lugar) that the restaurant stopped dumping their foul waste in open-air, on-the-street mini-dumpsters. I was forced to smell rotting beef every summer. I wonder who they were bribing...
Posted by: ted | Jul 2, 2005 9:52:46 AM
When it comes to eating out of dump trucks, I am a strict vegetarian.
Posted by: Bernie | Jul 7, 2005 5:16:45 PM