Our beef is Galloway, and it comes from the herds of Natuurpunt, the largest nature conservation organisation in Flanders. The cattle graze in nature reserves across Flanders, and they are not there for meat first of all. They are there to manage the land. Their grazing keeps the reserves open and alive, and supports the plants, insects and birds that depend on that landscape. The beef is what follows from good conservation. These are slow animals. An ox can be born in one reserve, graze there for years, move to another as the seasons and the conservation plan require, and reach at least six years of age, sometimes twelve, before it ever comes to us. That is far older, and far slower grown, than ordinary beef, and you can taste it. They are grass-fed the whole way, and grass-finished. In winter, when there is little to graze, they are fed hay. No grain and no feedlot. There's no rush to any of it. And we know the story of the animals we sell. For each one, Natuurpunt sends us its history: when it was born, which reserves it grazed, how it spent each winter. They even ask us for feedback on the quality, and they adjust. Ask us about this week's beef. Few butcher's shops can answer that question.