If you can’t eat it, wear it.
Or, put it on your skin.
Or, feed it to your companion animals.
That was the message from the most recent Offal Party, hosted by Colorado State University’s Agriculture Innovation Center on January 25th during the National Western Stock Show in Denver.
The first Offal Party, held last January, highlighted the culinary possibilities of underutilized beef, pork, and bison organ meat. A follow-up event last summer focused on the nutritional benefits those byproducts bring to pet treats and food.
The latest event was billed as the “Offal Party, 2025 Edition Featuring the Genuine Leather Fashion Show.” Nearly 250 people who braved the snow and sub-zero temperatures to attend were treated to a leather-centric fashion show, where students from CSU’s fashion design program showcased their creative designs along a “runway” that had served as a bison auction arena only hours earlier.
Cosmetics, pet products, and edible offal were also important parts of the evening. Before the fashion show, contestants in the first-ever Offal Business Plan Competition shared their pioneering work in developing pet treats and food, skin care products, and bone/offal sipping broth.
To add an extra element of fun, the evening included line dancing as attendees mingled and sampled a selection of tasty items made from heart, cheek meat, and other organs following the fashion show.
Noted livestock handling expert Temple Grandin acknowledged the unlimited possibilities of offal by sporting a shirt emblazoned with rocket ships soaring into space.
As the evening wound down, one rancher at the party noted, “This reminds me of the start of the craft brew boom. It started small and just grew.”
That’s the vision of Jordan Lambert, director of CSU’s Agriculture Innovation Center. The Offal Party program is designed to be more than a series of isolated events. The Center produces a monthly Offal Newsletter and is building a database of ranchers, processors, chefs, fashion designers, and others interested in ensuring every part of the animal finds a useful home.
The Ag Innovation Center is collaborating with Flower Hill Institute to engage as many meat and poultry processors as possible in this growing movement. Anyone interested in joining the growing Offal Party network can email Lambert at Jordan.Lambert@colostate.edu.