Ancestral Food
(San Antonio TX)

For Chester Bidmead, the story behind Ancestral Food starts with being a father. His son’s health challenges led him to question the food his family was eating: where it came from, what the animals were fed, and how they were raised. Those questions became the foundation for a different approach to farming.

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Originally from a small coastal town in the United Kingdom, Chester comes from a family with a long fishing heritage. He moved to San Antonio in 2016 and, after building and selling two businesses, turned his attention toward producing food. In 2025, he established a farming operation that brings breeding, raising, and processing poultry and pigs under his own management. His operation includes a hatchery, on-farm pig breeding, and a USDA-inspected processing facility giving him direct involvement at each stage.

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Chester’s approach begins with paying attention to how animals naturally live and eat. Chickens and pigs have room to explore and forage in woodlands, and heritage breeds are an important part of his approach. His work with American Bresse chickens reflects his interest in how breed selection influences behavior and the food he produces.

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Their foraging is supplemented with corn- and soy-free feed that is fermented before feeding. Chester’s intention is to draw inspiration from the natural processes animals might encounter while finding food on their own. Fermentation is one part of that broader philosophy: thoughtfully managing their food and surroundings while allowing opportunities for natural behavior.

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Ancestral Food’s beef is 100% grass-fed and grass-finished, with regenerative raising practices described across its beef offerings. The attention to preparation continues with dry-aged cuts that develop their flavor over time.

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For Chester, the details of animal care and feeding are connected to the questions that first brought him into farming as a parent. Ancestral Food gives him a more direct role in producing his family’s food and gives customers a closer connection to the person responsible for theirs.