Grass Fed Field Guide
A Comprehensive Look at Grass Fed Beef, Pastured Chicken, Diet, the Environment, and Much More

Grass Fed Basics
Start Here
Welcome to the Grass Fed Field Guide! There are a lot of big topics that come up when talking about farming, from the intricacies of grass fed beef production to the impact of diet on human health to what lab-grown meat means for small farmers. While there are great, interesting articles about all of these, there's also a lot of misinformation, sloppy writing, and oversimplification. The aim of Grass Fed University is to be an ever-growing hub for articles about all of these that are at once clear and comprehensive.
Immediately below are links to pragmatic guides, like an introduction to grass-based farming, a handy guide for finding grass fed beef near you, a glossary, and a basic guide on how to cook grass fed beef. If you're after big picture ideas, scroll down for an in depth look at the production of grass fed beef, pastured pork, pastured chicken, and grass fed lamb. There are also sections for discussions of the relationship between diet and health, farming and the environment, and the advent of lab-grown meat and other fringe technologies that threaten to disrupt farming as they become more mainstream.
•What does the term grass fed mean? Why does it matter? Do I think chickens should eat only grass? What about humans? Start here to learn about the grass fed basics
•Where should you look for grass fed beef, but also how to assess what's on offer and some big red flags to look for as you hunt for high quality grass fed products
•Though both are important, grass fed and pastured are not the same.
•It may sound good, but here's why grass fed chicken is a bad idea.
•There's grass fed beef, but for good reason there is not grass fed pork.
•A clear description of the basics characteristics to consider when cooking any meat, and specifically the differences and similarities between grass fed and conventional meat (coming soon)
•A list of common farming and eating terms.

Grass Fed vs. Lab-Grown
•In A Skeptical Guide to Lab Grown Meat I delve into some of the technical reasons you shouldn't expect test tube burgers to land in the supermarket anytime soon.
•Who should own the raw material used to produce lab grown meat, and should the government intervene?
•Can we compare novel foods like the Impossible Burger to old standards like beef?

Diet and Health
Coming soon!

Beef and the Environment
Coming soon, I promise.
News and Perspective
Kabocha Squash Gratin
I love a good winter winter squash, but I don’t have many go-to recipes other than roasting one or making soup. For kabocha squash, however, neither of these is ideal. What is a kabocha? Developed in Japan, kabocha squash look like little pumpkins, except that they are usually pale to dark green. (I’m also aware...
Grass Fed Beef, Hay Fed Beef
When it comes to grass fed beef, one major source of confusion is the role of hay. If grass fed cows should only eat grass, what’s this hay stuff? How does it fit in? Luckily, it’s easy to understand once we get our terms straight Like the grass in grass fed beef, hay is actually...
Sous Vide Chuck Steak
Clarifying a confusing topic On paper it sounds perfect. The chuck is one of the most flavorful cuts of beef out there, which is why it makes such great pot roast or stew. But while a few parts of it are tender enough to eat as steaks, most notably the chuck eye, as a whole...