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THE FUTURE OF FOOD WITH INTEGRITY: CHIPOTLE & AOF

Eight food-focused, growth-stage ventures selected to participate in the Chipotle Cultivate Foundation's Aluminaries Project, to accelerate positive change in the food industry by participating in an accelerator program to take their businesses to the next level and work toward cultivating a better world.

OSTRICH: THE NEW RED MEAT

"Ostriches represent a red meat that is far superior to anything you can buy," says owner of American Ostrich Farms Alexander McCoy.

"In a few years time, 2 years to 15 years, you're going to see ostrich everywhere, it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when."

I spoke with the owner of American Ostrich Farms Alexander McCoy, who says he discovered ostrich meat while living in South Africa, training for Ironman.

"I got sick of eating chicken, chicken eggs, chicken breast. and i found ostrich, its 97 percent fat free, lower in cholesterol, higher in iron, extremely healthy for you but it tastes just like beef," says McCoy.

OSTRICH: THE OTHER RED MEAT

In early September, Banger’s, a sausage house and beer garden in Austin, Texas, was hosting its monthly whole-animal roast. But the centerpiece of the dinner didn’t look like anything you might expect. After meeting some people with a connection to an ostrich grower, executive chef Ted Prater had wrangled himself a whole ostrich at a cost of about $1,000. He’d cooked ostrich in the past, but “whole animal cookery is different,” he said—and especially so when it comes to the famously tall bird.

WHAT'S COOKING? OSTRICH...FOR DINNER

...at least that’s what Alexander McCoy has dedicated his life to making happen! McCoy is a former finance guy who turned ostrich farmer after training for an Ironman competition.

McCoy: “I was in South Africa, and I found this 97 percent fat-free red meat, and I pretty much just started eating it daily.”

Ostriches are the world’s largest birds. But their meat does not taste like chicken. Instead, it resembles beef in taste, color and texture. So it could be a way for Americans to eat burgers and steaks without doing as much harm to their own health or the environment.

ANCIENT BIRD, MODERN MEAL

Strutting around the arid farmland of rural Kuna, the McCoys’ ostrich flock moves with prehistoric swagger, bobbing their heads and shaking their feathers as they size up visitors approaching their enclosure.

“A lot of people liken them to dinosaurs. In a way, they are kind of a relic,” said Boyd Clark, vice president of the board of directors for the American Ostrich Association, a national trade organization for the US ostrich industry. Ostriches’ lineage can be traced back 20 million years to the Miocene period, an age when many modern animal families began to appear.

KUNA FARM LOOKS TO RAISE OSTRICH FOR YOUR DINNER

On 20 acres in Kuna, bird is the word and that bird is ostrich.

Alex McCoy gave up his career in banking to embark on a new business adventure to bring the world's largest bird to your dinner table.

He started American Ostrich Farms. From eggs so big they would make the golden goose jealous, to the chicks that grow six feet in just six months, American Ostrich Farms says it uses state-of-the-art technology to be environmentally sustainable. McCoy also says they don't use hormones or antibiotics and that the birds don't taste like chicken, but steak. McCoy says they are the unsung hero for the protein aficionado.

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