The Mobile Meat Appreciation Society consists of a group of cyclists – strictly no lycra, fancy gear or posh bikes allowed – who set out on Saturdays from Centennial Park in search of good meat, which they duly admire, purchase and devour.

The founding member of the “meatriders”, software engineer Paul Ceccato, Randwick, said about 10 or 15 regulars went on a weekly carnivorous mission.

“The principle is to visit butchers and smallgoods shops,” Mr Ceccato, aka “General Chipolata”, said.

“It’s a very good social gathering. We usually have a vague, often pretty vague, idea of where we’re going, depending on whether we’ve been there before.

“We stick to the back streets and cycleways. We’ve done some big rides out to Flemington markets and to Homebush – about 60 kilometres.”

Asked about the newly released Australian Dietary Guidelines that suggest men should eat less red meat, Mr Ceccato is emphatic.

“That sounds like rubbish to me,” he said.

“We’re all meat lovers. There’s something about a steak; it tastes better if you’ve worked hard to get it and, with the Sydney traffic, riding a bike is the best way to get anywhere.”

Mr Ceccato said he grew up cycling in Griffith and upon moving to the big smoke continued until his bike was stolen.

“Meatriding got me into cycling again,” he said.

“I took my partner’s bike and off I went.

“We’ve had a few really good finds.

“There was this excellent German sausage at a Bavarian smallgoods place at Ermington; they have closed their doors, but we recently found the next best option – an Italian place at Kogarah that sells excellent sausage and ridiculously large rib-eye cuts.

“It’s a family owned enterprise and it’s our number one pick at the moment.

“But there are a lot of interesting little places and we get to see and taste things we would not necessarily see.”

The group has a popular Facebook page featuring images from its outings.

“Whatever looks good, that’s what we’ll go for. We’re meat hunters.”