Veganism (or plant-based eating) is a burgeoning movement. At least 60% of our employees at Wandering Cooks are vegan. Many of our food makers are also vegan or are making ever more plant-based menus, on our and our customers urging.
With this growing insurgence of vegans surrounding our warehouse, I sometimes find myself questioning my meat eating motives.
Do I keep eating meat because I hate being ‘on trend’? That’s definitely not a good reason to eat animals so lets scrap that (even though it’s partly true). Is it because I love eating meat? Well I do, but not always, and we’ll come to that. And on top of loving the plentitude of textures and flavours in my diet that animals play a part in, the idea of eliminating whole skill profiles from my cooking repertoire is disturbing. But then, there are so many other skills I would learn if I no longer ate animal products, so that’s not the greatest reason either.
None of these are the real reason I keep eating meat, and serving it to my family and customers.
Underneath lies something else… a reason I think everyone should embrace. I say ‘should’ with a cringe because I hate being preachy, but I say it because I’d hope even vegans could embrace this one. I eat meat because I have profound respect for farmers that love their animals well, and embrace a practice of regeneration through farming with them.
I can’t bear not supporting them, not celebrating them for their resilience, their strength of character, care and ethics. To stop supporting these farmers, to me, would be tantamount to abandoning their stories and throwing them into the dark cavernous void where most of the world farms. Where the world’s heart should be is darkness because of this place.
At Wandering Cooks, we serve certain farmers products because for us, these farmers hold the darkness back from completely taking over our humanity. They embody the exact force which most vegans are revolting against. Without these farmers, everything kind and thoughtful about us would fall away into the void. I truly believe this. So even if you don’t eat animal products, please put aside for at least a moment, the arguments about whether or not we should eat animals at all, and help us fight industrial animal farming by supporting farmers whose practices are entirely other to it.
Below are some of who we’ve gathered for your support. A very incomplete list to be sure. To be questioned perhaps. But we need to start and this is it.
Most of below are retail outlets or online stores, not wholesale sources, but perhaps some of these sources do wholesale and don’t always declare it publicly. If anyone has more info to offer us, we’d love to hear from you. And of course, send any leads on more individual farmers to mention that are doing an excellent job as well as where to find them. Plus more distributors that specialise in sourcing carefully. We’d very much appreciate your help with this.
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