Move Over Meat

I’ll be honest: the first time I heard the term “vegan butchers” I rolled my eyes. My imagination conjured up images of earnest beardy types in butcher’s aprons, deftly carving up slices of eggplant and cauliflower. What fresh hipster hell was this, I thought? But I couldn’t have been more wrong. After interviewing three of the people at the forefront of this new wave of plant-based foods, I realized this was no hipster trend. This is more the next logical step for people looking to reduce animal proteins in their daily diets in a stress-free way. Vegan butchers, put simply, provide the traditional butcher shop/deli experience of cold cuts and minimal-prep meals to go—but without any dead animals! Instead, you’ll find plant-based, centre-of-the-plate proteins in easily recognizable forms from pork-less pulled pork to chicken-free fried chicken and tuna-less tuna salads. Here are the stories of three of North America’s pioneering vegan butchers.