T.O.’s meat eaters can be just as smug as vegetarians

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Submitted by Shannon Morgan with the comment "Animal welfarism at work." MargaretTORONTO’S MEAT REVOLUTIONWith Cowbell and the Healthy Butcher, T.O.’s meat eaters can be just as smug as vegetarians By Sasha ChapmanPhoto Caption: In the flesh: Ryan Donovan, a philosophically minded butcher, is leading the guilt-free meat movement”It all started innocently enough, with dinner at Cowbell, the unassuming restaurant in Parkdale. The waiter had given us a rundown of the chalkboard menu, which famously lists farmers along with their produce. He told us how the Lake Erie perch had been caught. Where the chicken had been raised. What the steak had once eaten. “Do you want to tell us his name, too?” joked my dinner companion. “George,” deadpanned the waiter, without skipping a beat.Fifteen years ago, that information would have been enough to send me to the meatless entrée. Back then vegetarians owned the moral high ground. Like so many of my university

peers, I tried to forget where my meat came from, preferring to buy bloodless, boneless chicken breasts wrapped in plastic.How times have changed. That night at Cowbell, the room was filled with self- satisfied carnivores making a virtue out of each bite of sustainability. I know I tucked into George with uncommon gusto. He had been a happy steer, I was sure of it, pastured on grass. Mark Cutrara, the chef, had purchased him directly from Dennis and Denise Harrison’s farm in Bradford. And he had butchered the carcass himself, taking care to make sure that each cut was used to its full potential. The steak was leaner and tougher than the beef I was accustomed to eating, but it seemed a small price to pay for (nearly) guilt-free meat. Without realizing it, I had aligned myself with a growing cult in the city: the cult of the righteous carnivore.It’s supposed to be a win-win approach to meat: animals are treated better and raised in a more environmentally friendly fashion (the production of local, organic, pastured beef consumes far less fossil fuel than feedlot cattle); farmers are paid more because they deal directly with butchers and chefs; less of the animal is wasted; best of all, the consumer gets to eat a healthier, better-quality steak. At the epicentre of this cult is the Healthy Butcher, a small but politically ambitious Queen West shop that’s beautifully curated, with pretty artisanal breads from Thuet, deep-yellow eggs from local Mennonites and of course an artfully arranged display case of pork, lamb, chicken and beef. What’s different about the Healthy Butcher is that the pig’s ears in the window perched next to the pork tenderloin probably came from the same pig....But will this same brand of boutique activism work

uptown, at the Healthy Butcher’s new shop at Eglinton and Avenue Road? Does north Toronto care about its meat?Full article: http://www.torontolife.com/features/have-cow/

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