… at Christmastime, when consumers buy 70% of all prime rib sold in the United States in a given year, according to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. The stockpiling and flash-freezing of these cuts starts in May. All summer, as grocery stores are selling mostly burgers for the backyard grill, the beef industry is already thinking about the biggest-ticket sale of the year: December’s standing roast.
“We see on holidays and special occasions the times when the kind of longer traditions and deeper histories of how we relate to food come out in ritual,” said Joshua Specht, author of “Red Meat Republic” and associate professor of history at the University of Notre Dame.
“What time of year is it more important to represent that things are going well than Christmas?” he added.