[Madelaine Amee]

It could be that you are all comparing apples and oranges. I lived most of my life in the Boston area and the meat I could buy in Boston was very different from the meat I purchase here. I always shopped at Market Basket and just purchased what looked good to me from the case. Then we retired to NH and my local store did not have the same cuts as in Boston. After a while I found a real Butcher in a small market in Center Harbor and he would cut to order.

On moving to Florida I found the meat was totally different, both in flavor and cut. I cannot get "steak tips", when I ask at the meat counter they ask me what sort of steak I want, I was never asked that before. I was used to fatty juicy pork chops with the big bone in, that cut is not available here, I guess Southerners do not like fatty pork, which is fine - when I visit my kids I get fatty pork instead of the thin cut, no fat, dried up pork chops available here. I used to be able to get pork joint with skin, which (when properly cooked) turns into pork crackling - we used to fight for the crackling. Not available here.

Things are different in the South. Mexican food and Chinese food are different here than in the Northern States. Philly Steak is different here, and I could go on and on. Italian food is very different.

But, the one big difference is, I am not shoveling snow from November to May.

By the way, there is a butcher in Wildwood, you may be able to get what you want there.