Evident in the earliest known cave paintings and celebrated on blogs and in restaurants, humans have had a nearly 10,000-year relationship with beef. From the highly coveted wagyu of Japan, to Halal and Kosher dishes alike (and all those grass-fed burgers in between), beef is one of the most universal proteins around. Beef has a particularly interesting history in the United States and illustrates the cultural and economic draw that meat had on our country. According to a report on npr.org, in the 1840’s, cattle grazing lands were at a significant proximity to cities, often within them. The access and affordability of meat at the time was shocking to new Americans as we see from letters written from early Irish immigrants, astonished at how much meat they were able to consume.
Later, after the development of railroads and refrigeration, entrepreneurs turned beef into an American industry. By 1976, Americans were eating a dizzying 96 pounds of beef per year, per person, and while we have seen that number decrease, with more people regularly eating chicken, there is no denying beef’s lasting and iconic impact in food culture around the world.
Here are recipes for beef in four, multicultural and delicious ways: