In 1902, butcher shops on New York’s Lower East Side raised the price of a popular cut of beef from 12 cents per pound to 18, due to a price hike by the cartel of businesses that at the time controlled most of the U.S. meat market. In response, a group of Jewish housewives organized boycotts and demonstrations, which are the subject of Scott Seligman’s book The Great Kosher Meat War of 1902. The author discusses the events that followed in an interview by Andrew Silow-Carrol:
There were [in 1902] some 600 kosher butchers on the Lower East Side—a lot of storefronts—and most of the women went to butchers in the immediate neighborhood. It was an interesting relationship, because there had to be trust on both sides. The women had to be assured they were getting kosher meat, and the butchers had to offer credit. Families couldn’t afford meat until the paycheck came home.
[The organizers] decided they were going to do a boycott, and overnight must have recruited 3,000 women, just going door to door, because squads of five took up positions across the Lower East Side. It wasn’t supposed to be violent. They were supposed to approach customers, remonstrate with anybody who wanted to buy meat and ask them not to do it. But when people crossed the lines, that’s when all hell broke loose. They grabbed the meat, threw it in the gutter and threw kerosene on it so it was inedible.
Although there was violence, this was a very well-disciplined event. Nobody ate the meat. Absolutely no one was supposed to eat meat and there was no looting. Only butcher shops and some restaurants were targeted. It wasn’t like street riots today, with people smashing windows up and down the street, and it stopped for Shabbat.
Read more on Times of Israel: https://www.timesofisrael.com/wheres-the-beef-jewish-women-led-new-york-citys-kosher-meat-riot-of-1902/