By: Benton Alexander Smith April 4, 2016   Alexander McCoy was working as a financial adviser for Citigroup in South Africa when he first encountered ostrich meat. McCoy was fascinated with the taste of the red meat, which is leaner than pork...

“It’s a bird, but it tastes like a mammal and cooks like a fish,” Lou Braxton said as he extended a frozen fillet towards me. It’s a line he’s perfected over his four years selling ostrich at the Union Square greenmarket in Manhattan. The cut, no larger than a filet mignon, was dark red—nothing like the white meat I associated with poultry.

Located on a 120-acre farm in Boise, Idaho, American Ostrich Farms (AOF) is working to provide an unexpected source of protein to American consumers. Ostrich meat is both high in protein and iron and low in fat and cholesterol. Food Tank had the opportunity to speak with Alexander McCoy, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of AOF.

Ostrich meat tastes like steak, has less fat and more iron, and is easier on the environment to produce than beef. So why isn't it more popular to farm and eat?