in the UK its common for shops and restaurants to advertise it if their meat comes from the UK because that’s in the the hope of appealing to the customer’s patriotism. Is that a thing in the US?

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  2. It is relatively common for places to advertise that their meat comes from the same county as the restaurant, or from a specific farm or ranch. I live in Oregon and there are a couple of well-known-by-name ranches in the state that people will advertise is where their beef is coming from.

    It would be a little weird but maybe not unheard of for a restaurant to advertise that their meat was merely “American.” Every now and then a burger joint might advertise that they use “Grade A American beef” or something but it’s definitely not something most places base ad campaigns on.

  3. I went to a local steakhouse in Texas that advertised their meats are all from the ranch they also run

  4. You’re more likely to see advertisements saying it is local to that specific state. I know places like 5 guys have a sign with where they got the potatoes from.

  5. Most food eaten in the US is produced in the US.

    Maybe the equivalent would be how sometimes at nice restaurants the menu will say how local the food is, and sometimes even the name of the farm or orchard. In grocery stores there might be a little LOCAL sign if it’s relevant. I’m not sure that it’s about patriotism though, it’s so you know you’re supporting local agriculture and presumably getting things that are fresher and have a smaller carbon footprint than stuff shipped from thousands of miles away.

  6. Oh yes. Especially among those with more domestic pride (yes, the stereotypical “patriotic” Americans). There has been a major “Made in the USA” pride campaign running since the early 1980s.

    Personally to me though, I enjoy trying local as well as globally sourced products. I think it’s cool to experience them as produced in their areas of origin, just as if I was trying them there.

  8. A lot of companies will advertise “Made in the USA,” if they can for that reason. Food companies tend not to because Americans tend to assume the food we eat is grown in America.

  9. It will be much more local. We don’t really import much meat. You will sometimes see European delis advertise that they might have some special imported meat from time to time. That would be more seen as a premium novelty vs some sort of cost cutting off shoring.

    A lot of fruit we consume is grown in places like Mexico and Chile.

  10. “Locally-sourced” foods of all types are valued as being better bc they aren’t transported great distances and may be grown and or raised with ethical practices, organic, etc.

  11. Almost all meat eaten in the US is domestic. On occasion organic or grass-fed beef is imported, but we produce that domestically too. We have a massive agriculture industry, and produce **huge** amounts of beef, pork, and chicken.

    It’s not advertised very often, because there’s a general assumption that meat is from within the US unless it’s something exotic, like imported Japanese wagyu beef.

    When it is advertised as being American beef, it’s by fast food places mentioning that their beef is American as well as “USDA Grade A” meaning it’s been given the highest rating by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture in the required health & safety inspection of the meat before it’s sold.

    There’s places that advertise their meat comes from within the state, or that they used produce grown in-state, it’s common enough in Kentucky that there’s even a “Kentucky Proud” marketing program and logo for stores and restaurants selling agricultural products from within the state. There are also specific “farm to table” restaurants that make a point of sourcing virtually everything they serve from local farms, and the term “locavore” for people who prefer to eat locally grown food or try to eat locally as often as possible.

  13. welcome back grapp!

    where I live it’s more common to specifically advertise things as being grown in North Carolina to emphasize that they’re regional. The US is a net food exporter, so while there obviously are a lot of foods that are imported, they tend to be more specialty things like cheeses or olives rather than staples. So people are more concerned about getting local/regional stuff that’ll be fresher, since most of the food is domestic anyway.

  15. Besides meat I don’t really care for “made in the US!” crap. If they have to advertise it as a bonus it’s because the product itself is expensive compared to its chinesum counterpart for no real boost in quality.

  17. No, cause pretty much all of our meat we make ourselves. It’s actually pretty uncommon to find foreign meat here.

    You might see them advertise it if it’s locally sourced (like within the same state) but that’s not super common.

  20. Yes, not just patriotism, it’s generally considered more fresh and trustworthy as well. We are aware that others disagree, trust me, its not something we need to be reminded of.

  21. The biggest single use of US land area is for agriculture, and the land used for cattle ranching alone is larger than several of our states aggregately. There are entire counties in several states known almost entirely for their hen houses or their pig raising. Between the gulf of Mexico and the northeast coast around Maine and the Alaska fisheries, fishing and gathering shellfish alone has shaped entire cultures and economies of states for centuries. It would be far more unusual for meat to come from outside of the US than from within it (unless it’s some weird tropical fish or unique game only found in restricted areas of the world), so the general assumption amongst Americans is of course the meat comes from within the US.

    The things that do tend to come from other countries are usually our fruits, as a lot of the fruits Americans buy are either tropical fruits from central and South America (like bananas and avocados) or can technically be grown in the US but have a very limited and short season and for most of the year are bought in from other countries where there’s a longer fruit growing season (like strawberries and citrus). A lot of agricultural land in the United States isn’t suited well to growing fruits outside of a few very restricted areas (like Southern California or Southern Florida or some Apple and Cherry Orchards in limited regions of the Northeast and Midwest), so fruit that is grown within the US does have that sort of patriotic marketing associated with it, though it’s usually a little more expensive and has a far shorter season of availability than imported fruit.

  22. It is not for patriotism. It is because we know what the FDA standards are and no one wants surprises.

  23. Outside of exotic meats of some kind, I think most people just assume that 99% of the meat they buy is domestically produced.

  24. Welcome back, Grapp.

    It’s usually not an issue for us because most meat is domestic in the first place. The closest comparison is advertising that the meat is local, which usually means not from a factory farm.

  25. We all know most of the goods come from here it’s more like they promote the state goods like Texas meat or idahos potatoes

  26. I worked for a restaurant that imported cured meats from Europe but that’s an extremely rare scenario

  29. We have so much agriculture that we can safely assume our meat is domestic by default. We’re a huge country in terms of land. We’re more likely to see signifiers on imported meet, like wagyu beef.

  32. I don’t think it’s patriotism, but it’s better to get local foods that don’t come frozen from far away places unless it’s something that you can’t get where you live.

  34. Wait, so British people don’t associate British beef with CJD like the rest of the world does?

  35. I think they might, but it doesn’t even register for me — pretty much all beef is domestic outside of maybe high end waygu something or other. It doesn’t even occur to me to wonder where it’s from because it’s about always from here.

  36. Growing up in England (in the late 80s/early
    90s) I remember stores always touted their available stock of Scottish beef but those adverts were not driven by patriotism. I’m honestly glad that’s no longer the case OP.

  37. Almost all of our meat is raise domestically. Outside of special things like Wagyu Beef, or Lamb/Mutton it would be exceedingly rare to have imported meat on the menu.

  38. Sometimes they advertise Kobe Beef as something that would be more expensive or exotic, but we mostly have our own beef. And it’s quite good.

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