Organ meats are ancient superfoods brimming with healthy fats, proteins, essential vitamins, minerals, and organ-specific bioactive compounds. Now, thanks to the nose-to-tail eating movement, the question of where to buy organ meats is getting easier to answer.
In this article, we’ll explore why and how organ meats can be a fantastic addition to your diet and where to buy the highest quality organ meats.
When we look into the anthropological record, we see that organ meats were prized by hunter-gatherer cultures the world over. [1]
In fact, it was our early ancestors’ ability to scavenge fatty organ meats that provided the rocket fuel for our rapid brain growth–the very thing that makes us human. Then for nearly 2 million years, humans ate a hyper carnivorous diet of nutrient-dense animal foods. [2]
Source: Dr Miki Ben Dor
It wasn’t until the dawn of agriculture around 8,000 years ago that we began eating plants in substantial quantities. The result has been a steady decline in our health. Our brains and bodies shrunk, our bones became more brittle, and diseases ran rampant.
Now in our modern Western version of an agricultural diet, we suffer from numerous “diseases of civilization” like type II diabetes, heart disease, and autoimmune disorders. [3] These were nearly nonexistent for our organ-meat-eating ancestors.
It’s worth emphasizing that for our caveman ancestors, “meat” usually meant organ meats and animal fat, not just the lean muscle that we consider “meat” today.
The takeaway: Eating organ meats helps us realign our ancestral physiology with the nutrient-dense superfoods that humans evolved to thrive on.
Organ meats provide vitamins, minerals, organ-specific enzymes, cofactors, and hormone precursors that support the corresponding organs in your body.
Studies show that pasture-raised livestock develops a diverse array of additional health-promoting phytonutrients—terpenoids, phenols, carotenoids, and anti-oxidants that become concentrated in their muscles and organs.
These beneficial compounds in grass-fed meat have anti-inflammatory, anti-carcinogenic, and cardioprotective effects. [14]
Though uncommon for most people, organ meats are probably more accessible than you realize. Here’s a rundown on where to buy high-quality organ meats.
If you have a local butcher where you buy common meats, start there.
Butchers are often excited to see people valuing lesser-known cuts.
Meat purveyors at farmer’s markets are increasingly carrying organ meats.
Organ meats are a staple for many traditional and non-Western cuisines.
Asian, Middle-Easter, Mexican, and Polish food markets, generally stock a selection of organ meats, and at much lower prices than wellness-orientated butcher shops. However, they may not have grass-fed options.
For most people, the most convenient way to buy a wide variety of organ meats is from the online stores of ranchers and meat purveyors.
The best part about buying organ meats online is that you can find meats from animals raised with regenerative farming practices.
Regenerative farming sequesters carbon and makes eating meat good for the environment.
Let’s take a look at the best places to buy organ meats online.
White Oak Pastures is a meat company specializing in nose-to-tail meats raised with regenerative farming practices.
They’re a sixth-generation farm in Georgia, that’s been run by the same family for over 150 years.
In 1995, they transitioned from industrial agriculture techniques and began operating their farm as a living ecosystem. Now they raise 10 species of humanely treated animals living in symbiotic relationships with each other.
White Oak Pastures is also a Zero-Waste farm. They butcher the meats on their farms, render fats into pure tallow, and compost inedible parts into organic fertilizer for their rich soil.
Highlights from their organ meat offerings include lamb heart, beef spleen, and turkey liver–which boasts the highest vitamin A of any food.
Grasslands beef carries a variety of high quality organ meats.
If you’re new to organ meats and looking for an easy way in, try their organ sausages, including Liverwurst, Braunschweiger, and Headcheese.
They also offer an accessible ground beef blended with heart, kidney, and liver.
Launched as a small chicken farm in Temecula back in 2012, Primal Pastures specializes in grain-free pasture-raised meats.
They also have an accessible paleo blend 80/20 ground beef with heart and liver.
Highlights also include pasture-raised hog and lamb liver.
TruBeef Organics is a great place to buy regeneratively farmed organic organ meats.
They’re also the first carbon-neutral meat company in North America.
Unlike many other purveyors, their cattle are independently verified as living on pasture 24/7.
TruBeef is explicitly committed to supporting ancestral, nose-to-tail eating. They pledge that their beef and lamb herds are fed exclusively on Organic wild grasses. There are no pesticides, herbicides, or artificial fertilizers are ever used on TruBeef pastures. And no grains, hormones, antibiotics, feed supplements, or GMOs are ever used.
A highlight is their organic suet–a special fat that surrounds the animal’s kidneys and is prized in many cultures.
Founded by carnivore diet Frank Tufano, well-known for his carnivore diet youtube channel.
Frankies Free Range meat offers hard-to-find organ meats, including milk-fed veal brain, sweetbreads, and rocky mountain oysters.
You can watch Frankie extoll the virtues of various organ meats below:
Seven Sons farm is another family farm that made a transition from conventional to regenerative farming techniques in the 1990s.
Since then, they have been supplying their local community with ultra-high-quality grass fed organ meats like marrow bones, chicken liver, and oxtail.
“The vocation of bringing food to your table is more than business to us – it’s a personal ministry and responsibility that we take very seriously!” – Lee & Beth Hitzfield (Founders)
Blackwing Quality Meats sets itself apart by offering bison and elk organs in addition to beef and pork organs.
Organ meats are making a comeback thanks to the nose-to-tail and carnivore diet movements.
Organ meats have been a central part of the human diet for two million years. They are among the healthiest foods on earth, rich in organ-specific bioactive compounds and essential nutrients only found in meat.
Making organ meats part of your modern diet is a powerful step in reclaiming your metabolic health. Consuming organ meats re-aligns your diet with your ancestral physiology forged over millennia in close relationship with these nutrient-dense superfoods.
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