What is an ethical omnivore?

Our book, 'The Ethical Omnivore' is a user-friendly recipe and handbook that will open your eyes to a better way to buy, cook and eat.

We wrote it to answer the questions we've been asked every day in our butchery for the last 15 years and it's an unapologetic paean of praise for regenerative agriculture and the importance of community. 

We live in an affluent era marked by an increasingly fraught relationship to food, and meat, at least in first world countries, is increasingly the most controversial ingredient. Who do you believe? How do you find authentic information? The food landscape has become a minefield so how do you find a way forward with good conscience?

Our book explores the solution: living with a conscience; asking the right questions of whomever sells you meat or of the labels you read; and learning how to respect the animal so much that you're willing to cook something other than chicken breast. A way to live with less impact on the animals and environment that support us.

So what is an 'ethical omnivore'?

To us, an ethical omnivore is someone who consciously selects food from production systems that align with their value systems.

So, for example, if you think that animals should be treated humanely, you won't buy animal products from systems that incarcerate animals in sheds or feedlots. You'll read the packaging fine print or research the farm to be sure.

Or, if you think that climate change is an urgent threat, you won't buy food from farms that undermine biodiversity and ecosystem health by using interventionist chemicals to alter natural systems for short-term gain - prioritising scale, growth and speed to market over long term vitality and sustainability. These farm practices have more in common with extractive mining than caring for the natural systems on which our survival depends.  

Do you know where your food comes from?

If you stop and think about it, most of us often know very little about where our food comes from, how it's produced, how far it travelled to reach us and how many hands it passed through. To find out, you'll need time and good detective skills because our food production, distribution and retail systems are opaque and complex.

Food retailers are tapping in to customers' desire to purchase products that are environmentally sustainable. But if you're a time-poor customer in a shouty market place where every second product claims to help save the planet, how do you work out what's fact and what's fiction?

How do you know to trust?

It's our mission to change this and give you all the information you need to easily make the right choice for you and those you're feeding. To draw a clear line of sight from the farm to your table as clear as possible. Facts, not greenwashing.

We recognise that food choices are influenced by lots of things including time, money and knowledge and none of us get it right every time. (In fact, if you're getting it right half the time, you deserve a medal! But don't stop there...)  

In our book, behaving ethically equates to taking responsibility for the impacts of your choices. Choose regeneratively-farmed food that doesn't cost the planet.