Beef: The Final Destination

A visit to the AC Market

We have seen the farmer, the buyer, the butcher, the processor, and tonight we saw the final destination...the countertop! Although tonights venture through dimly lit smoke filled alleys was the first of the day, it does not mean time was wasted. 18 hours of MacBook stare offs and we have copious amounts of solid material stashed away on Google servers somewhere in the US, possibly The Dales...that's in Oregon.

The AC Market is one of Accra's most modern and little did we know the supermarket is littered with American amenities; Trey was like a kid in a candy store, literally clearing the check out isle of its Snickers inventory. After finding some generic Chinese mosquito repellent (Lord knows what's in this stuff) we made our way through the densely packed isles towards the meat counter. What we saw amazed us both!

Ham and cheese under the glass.

The Olive and cheese counter would make Safeway jealous, Captain Crunch cereal fans can buy a box a of sugar-coated junk for around $2.00 (US), and the beef, well it's much better than what I had imagined, although i'm not quite sure the steaks on the right would qualify as "T-bones." But they're a start! We also learned that a huge delicacy here in Ghana are smoked cows feet. I don't know if I can muster the adventurous nature enough to choke one down.

T-Bones and bone-in...and cow hooves too!

Observing the consumer at work!

The picture above has brought one last thought to mind; observing the consumer at the meat counter is a truly amazing experience! Call me weird, or call Kevin Johnson weird (he was my animal health professor at TCU) because he got me kicked off on watching how people interact when purchasing beef at the counter. This is truly a spectator event and should be enjoyed with a hot dog a lawn chair and pint of coors!

Don't forget to check out the following sites:

http://instagram.com/americanag

http://ranch.tcu.edu/

http://www.instituterm.tcu.edu/