It's A Lovely Day for a Meat Raffle
I was talking with a former Minnesota resident this past weekend and he told me about a rather strange practice that is popular in the state, the meat raffle. A meat raffle is just like it sounds, a raffle on meat. They are done at many of the bars that dot the Minnesota landscape. People pay to buy tickets and then winners get varying cuts of cold meat.
"The bartender reached into a freezer and produced for my benefit the evidence: several giant packages of, indeed, meat. Frozen meat. A stunning pack of pork chops and a handsome four-pound chuck roast. These were the prizes of the night — beautiful meat to be sweepstaked off to some lucky drunk! Saloon meat! Chance meat! Destiny's meat!"
- New York Times
I can hardly imagine the scene at a bar where patrons sat with a drink and a thawing roast in front of them. It's too absurd for words, yet I have discovered that, in addition to Minnesota, this is a common practice in Britain and Australia too.
What prompted the rise of the meat raffle is anyone's guess and straddles the line between genius and insanity. Perhaps some bar's refrigerator broke and they had to get rid of their supply of delicious cow, pig, and whatever other delicious killed animal populated the freezer. Or maybe a crazy butcher decided to liquidate his supply of delicious goods. Whatever the reason, I've finally got a reason to visit the North Star State.
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