What I Want to Be When I Grow Up: An Enlightened Omnivore

A love letter to regenerative agriculture.

It was seven years ago when I started on a journey to become a butcher and challenge the negative images of meat eating in Southern California. In 2016, LA was in the throes of meat bashing. Vegan restaurants were going up all over town, the raw food movement was full tilt, protesters were camped outside our shop, and articles espoused that Impossible Burger would replace In N Out. I know, for most Americans, this sounds far-fetched, and yes, we still had plenty of business at the butcher shop despite all the excitement. But the pitched battle between carnivores and vegans really bothered me. Not because I was so pro meat. But because the argument was filled with so much misinformation on both sides.

So, as an eager “eco-butcher,” having learned about regenerative agriculture, sustainability, nutrition, and ecology just enough to be dangerous, I set off on a crusade (yes, I’m aware of how loaded that term is; I’m using it on purpose). I preached from the mountain tops that meat wasn’t the boogie man of environmentalism. Meat could be part of a healthy diet, not society’s downfall. Folks should be challenging the methods of production, not the meat.

And I was right. Well…I wasn’t wrong.