Meat #Meathusiast, Mackenzie!

Hi friends,

First and foremost, thank you for being here. You’re our kind of people, and we are grateful to have found each other. I’m Mackenzie, and although I can't take any credit for being an expert on sous vide cooking, the grill, the smoker, or much of the meat prep, I do enjoy taste testing, mixing cocktails for the cooks, brainstorming business ideas and learning whatever I can to pull my weight on this one-of-a-kind team! 

When we decided to start The Meatery there were many brainstorming sessions. All included great food, top-notch company, witty banter, and an adult beverage or two. One of my claims to fame is coining the term “Meathusiast.” I wish there was a cool story about how I came up with this noun to explain someone who is driven by the idea of sharing their appreciation for procuring, preparing, and consuming quality meat. 

I would love to tell you that I came up with the term while our team was preparing one of my favorite meals in a cabin on the banks of the McKenzie River in Oregon, or while we were out on the pontoon in Northern MN talking about our visions and goals for the Meatery it suddenly hit me. It would even be cool if the story behind “Meathusiast” originated as we all sat around a well-stoked bonfire roasting brats and eating s’mores, but those scenarios are just great food memories. 

The term “Meathusiast” came to me where most of my best thinking occurs: my car! We had been talking so much about the community we hoped to form, the excitement these people would have talking about and learning about quality meat. Words like creative, interested, intent, amateurs, passion, and enthusiastic were being tossed around and it just hit me. That’s it, that’s the story. If you’ve stuck with me this long, I hope you aren’t disappointed and can appreciate the glamorous and not so glamorous events that have lead to what is now The Meatery.

More stories to come,

Kenzie Drager