The hipster world has certainly become very focused on going vegetarian in the past few years. Perhaps spurred by environmental issues – eating meat creates a chain of carbon footprints – these vegans are nothing but enterprising.
A couple of years ago saw the vegan butcher – an oxymoron, the say the least – called The Herbivorous Butcher. And, as per hipster rule, the store retails small-batch, non-GMO heritage wheat-made meaty products containing no meat. Even the cheese is dairy-free. To add to street cred, the store was Kickstarter-funded.
Since then, many other veggie-butchers are popping up all over the world, like the Holland-based Vegetarian Butcher which specialises in making mock-meat taste like real meat. So if you think mock meat from Chinese/Buddhist restaurants are too passe, there are hipster options available.
Everyone’s jumping on the bandwagon when it comes to exploiting vegans and vegetarians. US-based grocery chain Whole Foods now has a ‘produce butcher’, which is technically someone who chops up fruits and vegetables for you in-store.
This NYC branch at Bryant Park is the world’s first produce butcher, and charges $1 per pound (or individually-priced item). We know what you’re thinking: Does it really take that much effort to cut produce at home?
Before you protest, it does take skill to cut your fruits and veggies in ways that some cookbooks require (especially without wasting bits). Julienne cuts are different from Batonnet cuts, and the Brunoise dice is a lot smaller than the usual ‘dice’ cut.
Well, there certainly is no reason to NOT eat your greens now. Especially if you’re hipster.
