Lean meat never fattened a . . .

Sir, – I have been reading with interest the articles of John Elliot and the resultant comments of readers over the comparative quality of our beef. 
Having reared cooked and served mainly pork but also lamb and beef for some time now I strongly agree that a higher fat content (but not too much) than is found on meat on supermarket shelves and indeed butchers shops makes for a tastier mouthful when cooked. 
The problem is the word “fat” in itself. The general public I believe have been conditioned to think that the fat on an animal will, when eaten, transfer gram for gram to fat on their own body. 
Thus fatty meat will make you fatter, lean meat will make you lean. A fallacy of course as the digestion process is a complex mechanism. Meat served as tender as possible, cooked well in more of its own fat, does contain more calories than lean over/under done meat because it is far easier for the body to digest but less is needed to satisfy. 
The fat also contains a great deal of nutrients that benefit health and appearance. It seems that in our quest for beauty and trimness Britain does eat more leaner meat than on the continent, yet it does not satisfy so we have become grazers of other high calorie products, mainly crisps, fried in fat. Retailers and farmers are keen to perpetuate this myth that lean is better for you (in many cases you will be told it is tastier too!), because lean meat is cheaper per kilo to produce.
Although we are supposedly undergoing a “food revolution” in this country, in the mass search for better flavour, quality, welfare, nutrition and traceability in meat, the evidence is quite to the contrary. 
Waste lines expand, allergies, real and invented increase, more white, dry, lean, bland, poor welfare pork and chicken is eaten, while less lamb, all “outstanding in their field” is consumed. Top chef Heston Blummenthal tells us that the very best steak should be hung as a joint for 3 months, but it’s almost impossible to buy meat that has been hung longer than 3 weeks. And of course abattoirs get further and further away.