Suzette Haas

Suzette Haas is a former violinist, corporate attorney, fashion design student, and yoga instructor, who swapped the city for the country three years ago. These days, she’s a full-time mother of three, homeschooling on her family’s burgeoning permaculture homestead, in New York’s Hudson Valley.

Why did you become a Good Meat® consumer?

We have children now, and their health is one of our primary concerns. I wanted to make sure that they were eating meat raised without antibiotics and pesticides and that the meat they were eating came from animals that weren't flooded with stress hormones. Also, environmentally speaking, it's just better for the planet to shop local, so I make it a point to buy local meat.

How do you define your Good Meat® values?

I usually buy meat from places where I can see the animals being raised. Here in Germantown [in Upstate New York], when I drive to Hover Farms, I see the cows grazing contentedly in the pasture, and I can't help but think that meat from these cows has to be good meat. If the animal has a happy life, the meat in my opinion will be good. Sometimes I'll buy meat from the local farmer's market, where I get to talk to vendors to ensure that I'm getting happy meat.

Where do you buy most of your meat?

Hover Farms is my go-to for meat. We usually buy beef or chicken (we're not so adventurous). We live 5 minutes away by car, so if I decide I want a meat dish in the evening, I'll just pop on over earlier in the day to grab some meat to thaw. I buy from local farmer's markets as well.

What meat, or meat dish, do you eat most regularly and what do you eat for a special occasion?

Grilled chicken thighs (marinated in a yogurt/curry dressing) is our absolute favorite chicken dish. I also like to throw ground beef into spaghetti sauce or sauté some ground beef with onions, sliced cabbage, garlic, soy sauce, and coconut sugar. It's the kids' favorite staple, though we try not to eat beef more than once every week or so. Our special occasion meat dish is beef stew, though I have no idea why it's a special occasion meal. It's so easy to make, especially with an Instant Pot. I think I make it so infrequently because when I make it the family eats so much of it that I just have to buy so much meat!

What is your biggest challenge or obstacle when it comes to being a Good Meat® eater?

I think the big challenge is having to go out of one's way to find good meat. I know that some grocery stores claim to sell "organic" or "grass-fed" meat. But what do those labels really mean? It'd be the easiest thing in the world to pick up meat in the grocery store, while I'm shopping anyway, if I could trust those labels, but I don't, so I have to make a separate trip to buy my meat. I just wish I could find good local meat in my local grocery store. And on a more structural/systemic level, I wish everyone had the option of finding good and affordable meat when they went shopping.