THE RIDGEWOOD EUROPEAN PORK STORE

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Butcher ‘rock star’ Jonel Picioane proudly poses in his Ridgewood European Pork Store for The Bushwick Daily. The is located in Ridgewood Queens since the 1930’s. This write up is for The Bushwick Daily.

INTRODUCTION

The Ridgewood European Pork Store transcends modern-day food. It is, in fact, an endangered species. It is located in what was originally an eastern European neighborhood. Amazingly, the store was born in the 1930s with very few changes in ownership and products.

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The Ridgewood European Pork Store looking similar to the way it did when it first opened in the 1930s. Photo from Yelp.

ARTISAN FOOD

Technically homemade meat products like it had in 1930s US and Europe fill much of the store today. Artisan is the new name that has been given to this type of food. This term represents foods made in small batches, made often for freshness, and traditionally-prepared to taste as it originally did. Artisan is a new word for old-time goodness. Here is a definition for artisan food from Wikipedia
 

FOOD THAT TAKES US BACK IN TIME

There is an entire movement of Artisan Food. We crave food the way it used to taste, free of preservative for long shelf lives. We want it homemade with a focus on quality, not quantity, wrapped in butcher paper, not vacuum sealed plastic-wrapped. There was time when speed of preparation rather than taste was the priority. But things have changed. We want slow food. We want to go back in time.
 
 

FOOD TODAY WITH A TASTE FOR YESTERDAY

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Owner Jonel , the rockstar butcher, at work at his butcher shop. Photo from The Bushwick Daily.

CONCLUSIOIN

I haven’t had a chance to visit the European Pork Store yet. But it is on my list of things I want very much to do. Even though I am not much of a world traveler, I love to travel the world and its history within my own world.

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