Steakhouse Chains

The American love affair with beef is no secret. For the better part of the twentieth century Americans consumed beef with a rapidity matched by few other foods. At the height of beef consumption in the 1970s, Americans were consuming ninety pounds of beef per person a year. Anthropologists and sociologists have proffered various explanations for such high consumption rates, but most agree that beef’s symbolic ties to status account for much of this consumption. Most American consumers hold the steak—especially the corn-finished, well-marbled cuts from the short loin, sirloin, and rib—in even higher regard. In the American gastronomic hierarchy, steaks symbolize wealth and power. They conjure visions of culinary grandeur, elite restaurants, and sophisticated palates.