is a study of beef retailing in Bogota (Colombia), and especially about the persistence of informal networks of sale and consump- tion. In my view, informality is responsible for two concomitant and seemingly opposite phenomena: high meat prices (the result of a long, unproductive, and ineffi cient supply chain), and the distribution of poor quality meat, slaughtered under questionable hygienic conditions, which in fact allows the poorest people to gain access to it. I begin this article by examining the importance of beef in Colombia. I then explore why it is so expensive, and describe the structure of its retailing and consumption chain. I end by discussing the implications of informal retailing and the impact of new, modernizing regulations that are being imposed.