The Local Feed Interviews Jeff from Duba and Company

We had so much fun interviewing Jeff Duba at The Local Feed on WYCE that we made two audio segments; the extended interview is linked above. He owns Duba and Company, merchants of heritage meats. Listen to the interview to find out what heritage meat is all about. Duba is the grandson of the founder of Duba’s Restaurant which operated in Grand Rapids for over 50 years.

Duba and Company has five reasons for you to enjoy Heritage Meats that he shared with us.

Flavor: Fuller flavor and distinctive terroir. Unlike conventional meat, heritage meats have fuller flavor. There is also a difference in flavor profiles from one farm to the next as people are able to taste the geography of each region (the terroir), including the diet of the animals. Other factors that influence the flavor profile of the meats Duba & Company purveys include: the craft of the farmer or rancher; the breed of animal from which the meat comes (e.g. Scottish Highland beef versus Red Poll beef); the aging the meat undergoes and the age of the animal at harvest.

Nutrient-dense: Heritage meats are raised primarily on pasture without growth hormones or prophylactic antibiotics. Further, they are higher in omega-3 fatty acids (“good fat”) and lower in omega-6 fatty acids (“bad fat”). In truth, the human body needs both kinds of fatty-acids, but it's about ingesting them in the proper ratio. Conventional beef has a significantly higher ratio of omega-6s to omega-3s compared with heritage beef.

Ethics: These meats are raised in small batches by dedicated farmers and ranchers in a humane fashion. In keeping with the natural order, these animals are not treated as if they were inanimate objects which—Duba and Co. fear—can be a tendency in the factory farm model.

Conservation: Duba and Co. think of heritage meats - as well as heirloom vegetables and fruits - as the National Parks System of food. Purchasing them ensures the preservation of rare breeds and rare varieties of vegetables and fruits. Many animal breeds and vegetative varieties have become extinct in the 20th Century, an era that witnessed the rise of the factory food system which largely ignored the diversity of our food supply. Eating heritage meats, therefore, is an investment in biodiversity.

Romance: Tangibly, notes Duba, heritage meats capture the historic flavor of meats enjoyed by our ancestors. Intangibly, they are potent embodiments of the mystique and ethos of the Old World, the West and the Shire.