Here’s the Beef

Beef seems so purely American, it’s hard to believe that it’s actually yet another import. It was the Spaniards who brought the first cattle to this country in the sixteenth century, and while the settlers regarded them as the biblical beasts of burden, the Indians found them quite tasty. The Indians, in fact, were the first cattle herders, and they were the ones who moved the cattle across the Mississippi to the grass-lands of the plains.

Railroads and refrigerated cars eventually made getting beef to the eastern markets easier. Beef’s popularity continued to increase until it reached a peak in 1970. In recent years Americans, out of concern for a healthy diet, have cut back on their beef consumption. But the love is still there, and when you crave it, there’s nothing to take its place!