A Student's Case for Knowing Your Butcher

In a recent opinion column for The Blue Banner, the student newspaper of UNC Asheville, staff writer Clara Belle Beck responds to a chalk campaign on her campus that urged students to give up animal products. Her conclusion is measured. Guilt rarely persuades anyone. A better approach is to help people understand their choices, including buying from local producers whose practices they can see for themselves. It is an argument we find persuasive. Ms. Beck is the niece of Blue Ridge Meats owners Doug and Lois Aylestock, and she grounds her case in her visits to their shop. She describes what she found there as "a labor of love and a community effort." She also notes the contrast with her life at college, where she rarely knows the source of what she eats. That gap is the reason businesses like ours exist. As a USDA-inspected facility (Est. #6526), we believe customers deserve to know where their meat comes from and how it is handled. We welcome the questions.

Read the full column: An Opinion Nobody Asked for: Vegan Chalk By Clara Belle Beck, Staff Writer, The Blue Banner. Published September 29, 2026.