Top L.A. Vegan Restaurant Owners Receiving Death Threats for Slaughtering Animals
L.A.'s vegan vortex has angrily turned on the most prominent vegan restaurant group in town this week as word has spread that its owners are not just eating meat but raising and slaughtering animals at the working farm where they live in Northern California.
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The Engelharts frame their return to "sustainable, regenerative" animal consumption as the mindful culmination of years spent laboring on their upstate farm. "We started to observe nature, and what we saw is that nature doesn't exist without animals," says Matthew. "Neither does natural farming. You know, you can't buy organic vegetables that aren't fertilized with animal residue. So that was our discovery. We aren't on a soap box."
Yet while the Engelharts are at pains to paint their decision as a private and personal rural journey separate from their public work at their urban restaurants, their critics find the reasoning specious, believing the enterprises, the figureheads and their choices are inextricably bound. "This is a vegan restaurant company that's been a leader in the vegan community," says Chase Avior, a screenwriter and director who is organizing the Friday protest. "If they're going to go around and say it's not about animal rights, it's not about speaking about the animals horrifically abused, it's just about better nurturing a plant-based lifestyle, that's something different. A lot of vegans have a right to feel betrayed by this."
L.A.'s vegan vortex has angrily turned on the most prominent vegan restaurant group in town this week as word has spread that its owners are not just eating meat but raising and slaughtering animals at the working farm where they live in Northern California.
[clip]
The Engelharts frame their return to "sustainable, regenerative" animal consumption as the mindful culmination of years spent laboring on their upstate farm. "We started to observe nature, and what we saw is that nature doesn't exist without animals," says Matthew. "Neither does natural farming. You know, you can't buy organic vegetables that aren't fertilized with animal residue. So that was our discovery. We aren't on a soap box."
Yet while the Engelharts are at pains to paint their decision as a private and personal rural journey separate from their public work at their urban restaurants, their critics find the reasoning specious, believing the enterprises, the figureheads and their choices are inextricably bound. "This is a vegan restaurant company that's been a leader in the vegan community," says Chase Avior, a screenwriter and director who is organizing the Friday protest. "If they're going to go around and say it's not about animal rights, it's not about speaking about the animals horrifically abused, it's just about better nurturing a plant-based lifestyle, that's something different. A lot of vegans have a right to feel betrayed by this."
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