The study of humanity across the millennia, more often than not, takes the mind into a visual portrait of time rather than recognition of actual historical facts. For example, the belief that cave men existed can be debated across timelines for eternity, yet it is not their existence that captures the imagination. Instead, it is the visual portrait of strong, masculine Neanderthals hunting animals in the wild then cooking that meat over an open fire near a cave that likely captures the mind. Similarly, the vision of vast herds of Bison stampeding across the plains ahead of natives hot on the trail of their meat supply and a youthful rite of passage into adulthood that conjures the feeling of vitality, and freedom. To this day, the sense of strength that meat and freedom provide, continues to drive humans into the wild to do what they have done for millions of years. Truly, the sweetness of nature, the thrill of the hunt and the instinct to survive is burned deep into the soul of man. There is something about the combination of blood shed and freedom that is liberating and tangible and no doubt created to be this way – God Given.
Fast forward to a more developed time when tribes of man fought for boundaries of land masses and started exploration into the unknown. The eighteenth century brought one of the greatest rivalries in world history between England and France. With the threat of a French invasion the phrase “Beef and Liberty” became the rally cry for the English and secured their national identity through their consumption of beef compared to the French. The rivalry between the two highlighted the differentiation between liberty and nationalism brought through the robust diets of the English beef-eaters and the “artificiality” that defined the French. So much so, that in Theodosius Forrest’s, war ballad from 1735 called THE SONG OF THE DAY he expressed, “Their people slaves of power and pride, fat beef and freedom are denied. What realm, what state can happy be, when wanting beef and liberty.”
In the 1500’s the Spanish introduced cattle into what is now known as the American southwest, and those spread into present day Louisiana and Florida. By 1880, Bos indices influenced bovine had crossed with the Bos taurus brought by the Colonists to Jamestown in the early 1600’s. The American Civil war proved a turning point in the need for beef for consumption. That wars end sent settlers into the American West in search of liberty, bringing with them beef as a source of nutrients and sustenance. Due to expanding beef markets along the Mississippi and the lack refrigeration, the first “beef trail” was to New Orleans in one direction and to the California gold fields in the other. In 1862 Congress passed the Pacific Railroad Act which would which would connect the east coast to the west and bring freedoms theme in between. The rails not only brought freedom seekers west to settle and build towns, but enabled enhanced preservation methods of beef, therefore creating new markets across the Nation. With these new markets Texas trail drivers sent millions of beeves north to railheads in Abilene, Denver, and Cheyenne while supplying vast ranches in the northern plains. And so, freedom and beef were uniquely American, before baseball and apple pie.
Today, where old glory waves in the wind and cattle graze on a thousand hills, where there is beef…..there is liberty.
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