At its core, a meat collective is a traveling butchery school that offers hands-on training directly to consumers in whole animal butchery, cooking, and charcuterie.
For each class, the Wisconsin Meat Collective purchases meat directly from Wisconsin farms. Students then work together to transform it into ready-to-use meat cuts. They go home with high quality meat that they’ve processed themselves & a deeper knowledge of what goes into producing that food.
Patrons learn about all aspects of the meat industry from experienced butchers & members of the regional food community. The goal of the meat collective is to create an ever-growing sector of informed omnivores who are empowered to eat more thoughtfully and support a more sustainable production system.
The Wisconsin Meat Collective caters to meat eaters in all walks of life – we serve home cooks, farmers, butchers, chefs, hunters, and any other person inspired to delve deeper into the meat that they eat. We aim to keep our education approachable & accessible to all skill levels.
The Wisconsin Meat Collective is part of a growing movement – the first meat collective was founded by Camas Davis in Portland, Oregon in 2010. She then launched a nonprofit called the Good Meat Project in 2014. Their values – which align with those of the WMC – are ‘care for land, animals, and people. Transparency from start to finish. Nourishment and community.’
Other meat collectives have been founded across the United States. Check out our neighbors – the Chicago Meat Collective and the Minneapolis Meat Collective for more Midwest meat literacy.
Meat the Founder
With over 16 years of diverse experience in the meat, service, and food industries, lead instructor Anna Gilberts has developed a robust skill set as a whole animal butcher, cook, & manager.
Her career has been marked by a deep commitment to food produced in Wisconsin, where she has worked to build symbiotic relationships among farmers, fellow entrepreneurs, and community members.
Anna got her start working behind the meat counter at Jim’s Meat Market on Madison’s northside. From there, she dedicated years of service to the Williamson Street Grocery Cooperative as a meat and seafood manager.
In order to learn whole animal butchery, Anna jumped at the opportunity to be part of the opening crew at Meat People as their head butcher. From there, she gained restaurant experience working as the meat program manager at Seven Acre Dairy until spring of 2024 – when she officially founded the Wisconsin Meat Collective.
Photos by @jacklink
Partnerships
The majority of meat collective events will be hosted in a new community kitchen space called Roo’s Kitchen. Classroom space will finish construction in fall of 2025 – allowing the Wisconsin Meat Collective to begin hosting its classes on site.
Another tenant of Roo’s Kitchen, a catering company called This Is All Fabulous, has teamed up with with the Wisconsin Meat Collective to bring monthly events, classes, and pop-up style prepared food to Madison’s northside.
More in depth, equipment-heavy classes will be hosted at Knoche’s Meats – a USDA certified meat processing plant located inside Athen’s Grill in Waunakee, WI.
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