“I’ve seen so much worse. To encourage thoughtful and respectful conversations, first and last names will appear with each submission to CBC/Radio-Canada's online communities (except in children and youth-oriented communities). Veganism needs to be more than its current face of economic privilege, nonsensical protest, rigidity and judgment. The restaurant, named Antler, specializes in “local seasonal and wild foods” including boar, duck, and deer, which is why it drew the ire of animal rights activists. This article contains affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission if a reader clicks through and Activists began staging weekly protests, … The Hoof gets its foie from a farm in Quebec called Rogue River, where, Santon says, “they treat their ducks like gold”. David Menzies of The Rebel.Media reports: Toronto’s Antler Kitchen & Bar has received rave reviews since it opened. It’s more ethical than most other meats.”. “No animal wants to die,” she says. Comments on this story are moderated according to our Submission Guidelines. Please note that CBC does not endorse the opinions expressed in comments. For James Santon, the Hoof’s head chef, the major ethical issue when it comes to animal consumption is one of knowledge versus ignorance. Ugar, initially provoked by the kale comment, says she decided to target Antler because it’s in her neighborhood and she saw it as a viable opportunity for dialogue. They are not one and the same, but they definitely are not enemies. It was their fourth such protest outside of Antler. This past weekend, animal rights activists staged their sixth or seventh protest outside Toronto restaurant Antler Kitchen & Bar, which serves game meat such as venison and wild boar. Jen Agg, owner of the Hoof and author of the acclaimed memoir I Hear She’s a Real Bitch, says that activists target foie gras and restaurants that serve it “for the shock value”. They target these places because it has more of an impact. But given the response to Hunter’s counter-protest, her goal now, she says, is to use the media attention to promote veganism. Fed-up with the seemingly endless protests of the animal rights activists outside his restaurant, Hunter decided to let them know exactly what he thought about their complaints. Antler Restaurant & Bar co-owner and chef Michael Hunter carves a deer leg in the window of his restaurant during an animal-rights protest in Toronto on March 23. The deer, at least, was no longer suffering.”. But that's not a reasonable ask. We can't simply pressure people into abandoning all of those things. Santon points out that even foie gras, widely considered the most cruelly produced meat product, can be more ethical than its reputation suggests. About Antler. “The idea is not benign,” she says. The event description for this latest protest bragged that during the last protest, the restaurant had their ‘first ever’ “vegan menu board.” In general, it is about recognizing the connection between the way we consume and the effects it has on us and the world around us: conscious consumption. “A group of protesters threatened that business, and my response, like any other business owner, was to defend it.”. These restaurants remain within the exploitative bubble of human exceptionalism,” says Alex Lockwood, a senior lecturer at the University of Sunderland who specializes in veganism and animal ethics and is himself a vegan. “I dreamed my whole life of opening Antler and it exists today as a small, local restaurant specializing in regional Canadian cuisine,” he told me last weekend, a few days after another protest outside the restaurant. “The owner of the restaurant is a hunter, so we certainly have the pro-gun Americans really angry at us, and anger because people get defensive if they think they are being attacked about eating animals.” Saturday’s protest was reportedly the fifth outside Antler Kitchen & Bar, a restaurant that serves local and seasonal food. In response, activists keep coming back to Antler carrying signs that say things like "Take death off the dinner table," "Don't buy while they die" and "Murder.". “If a place serves heart or sweetbreads or foie, those things will click with people totally fine with eating hamburgers. This column is part of CBC's Opinion section. Chefs say they source animal products with care – but opponents argue there’s no such thing as ethical meat. Long Beach is a city in the U.S. state of California located within the Los Angeles metropolitan area.It is the 43rd most populous city in the United States, with a population of 462,257 in 2010. It is a priority for CBC to create a website that is accessible to all Canadians including people with visual, hearing, motor and cognitive challenges. 1 of 25. When we buy organic apples, we are voting for a world with more organic apples. 'Shock' According to Ugar: "We were in shock. But if you source your meat ethically – if you have a deep relationship with your food, if you know where it’s coming from, you know who raised it, and you know what it’s been fed and how its life has been – it’s more than okay.”. Yet it is unapproachable when it doesn't acknowledge the restraints people face in trying to change their consumption, and it is nonsensical when it positions itself in opposition to small-scale food production that promotes community and a vibrant local economy. Being a conscious consumer means recognizing that our dollars are votes, and every time we choose to buy something we are choosing to support that product. We weren’t,” she says. My own diet is rooted in concern for animals and the environment, but it also encompasses concern for what our future food system will look like. But it is not necessarily a message that motivates people to cut out animal products from their diet. A now-infamous group of animal rights activists say they will continue to protest Toronto's Antler restaurant every single week until its owner agrees to place this message in … A charter city, Long Beach is the 7th most populous city in California.. Words like ‘force-feeding’, they latch on to these things because they sound more cruel.”. The Antler Protest. While they are force-fed, it’s only for two seconds per day, over the last 10 to 12 days of their lives – a total of two minutes after 12 weeks of free-range living. If I must participate in the food system, I will do so in a way that my footprint is the lightest. The message we seem to get from vegan activists we see on Twitter or in the news is that everyone should be vegan. Comments are welcome while open. "Meat is murder" is catchier, true, and sends a strong, clear message. In the beginning, Ugar’s objective was to sit down with Hunter and make the case for veganism, hoping to persuade him to remove items such as foie gras from his menu and expand the options to include vegetarian and vegan alternatives. The restaurant has “received phone calls, emails, and even donations from people across the city” and heard from people in the hospitality industry around the world. She says it wasn’t in her interest to attack a small businessman but to educate the public and help redefine what restaurants like Antler serve. Antler’s owner, Michael Hunter, responded to one protest by carving up, and then eating, a deer leg at the front window in front of the protesters. The vegans planned their protest for the middle of the restaurant’s busy dinnertime shift. A protest outside of a Toronto restaurant has been gaining increasing attention online after activists say the owner brought out an animal leg, carved it … Marin Ugar, a vegan protester in Toronto. One of the activists' recent protests garnered international attention after the restaurant's owner carved and ate a deer leg in the window, in defiance of the protesters. Hunter felt he had no choice but to respond to the activists that March evening. On 27 March, Michael Hunter stepped out of the kitchen at Antler Kitchen and Bar, the downtown Toronto restaurant which he co-owns, wearing an apron and wielding the hind leg of a deer and a carving knife. “We’ve all seen the documentaries on Netflix about industrial farming with the cows on conveyors belts sliding into grinders. Local vegan animal activists simply couldn’t let Antler continue to serve meat and foie gras, so they planned a protest for Friday on Facebook. In December, Antler caught the attention of vegan activists when an employee scribbled “ Venison is the new kale ” on an outdoor sandwich board. In December, Antler caught the attention of vegan activists when an employee scribbled “Venison is the new kale” on an outdoor sandwich board. People are vegan for a multitude of reasons, but the top three tend to be about dietary health, environmental impact, and of course, concern for animal welfare. The animal rights activists were campaigning outside a restaurant in Toronto when the incident took place. Audience Relations, CBC P.O. She spends her days taking care of a few energetic kids, working at the local farmers market and thinking a lot about food systems justice. Protesting an animal rights protest, a chef and co-owner at Antler Kitchen & Bar in Toronto began butchering a raw deer leg with a sharp knife in the restaurant's window. I see conscious consumption as a way to hack the food system. At the front window, Hunter, a chef, had improvised a makeshift butcher’s table – a cherry-coloured cutting board atop a table ordinarily reserved for diners. Hunter knew his actions might have consequences, but he says he “could not have imagined the level of support” he has gotten for taking a stand. But Chef Hunter (yes that’s his name) also has the right to carve a deer windowside in his own restaurant. Pseudonyms will no longer be permitted. “I’m going to have my own protest.” The feud began late last year when an Antler staffer put out a playful chalkboard sign in front of the restaurant with the message “Venison is the new kale.” It needs a rebranding. Businesses such as Antler — which says it uses locally foraged ingredients and ethically farmed meats — vote for meat production and procurement that rejects factory farming. n 27 March, Michael Hunter stepped out of the kitchen at Antler Kitchen and Bar, the downtown Toronto restaurant which he co-owns, wearing an apron and wielding the hind leg of a deer and a carving knife. “The owner, a hunter, is smiling,” scoffed Len Goldberg, one of the activists, as he filmed the action and broadcast it live to his Facebook page. There is no humane killing. Vegans are free to protest peacefully outside. Order food online at Antler Kitchen and Bar, Toronto with Tripadvisor: See 205 unbiased reviews of Antler Kitchen and Bar, ranked #14 on Tripadvisor among 8,497 restaurants in Toronto. Marni Ugar, the activist who planned the original protest, insists the whole incident has been sensationalized by media that saw outraged vegans as irresistible fodder for news. #Toronto restaurant shocks vegans protesting meat https://t.co/CY0zU0a1By pic.twitter.com/XmT4adJZWT. When the protests began affecting business, Hunter retaliated by carving up the deer leg. We reserve the right to close comments at any time. It may be "more vegan" to buy soy-beef than it is to be a paying customer at Antler, but I can't say for sure that it is consuming more consciously. The considerations of restaurants like Antler and the Hoof, which take pains to source ethically farmed animals, mean little to the animal rights activist who takes an absolutist view. Sound familiar? Sarah Bond is a soon-to-be graduate of the University of British Columbia where she studied Global Resource Systems. Food is more than just what fuels you. Being a vegan consumer means that I am voting for less mass meat production. If vegan activists protested against her establishment, Agg wouldn’t engage with them. Protestors organized a series of events, during which they would stand outside the restaurant holding placards . WALLACE: No meat in protests against Antler restaurant Back to video. The vegans planned their protest for the middle of the restaurant's busy dinnertime shift. And, reservations are up at Antler. The action outside Antler was comprised of passionate vegan advocates from DxE, who chose the restaurant as the site for their protest because of the restaurant’s marketing, which heavily promotes what DxE and others term the “humane lie”. Incorporated in 1897, Long Beach lies in Southern California, more precisely in the southern part of Los Angeles County. “They’re raised much more ethically than any chicken. Food is culture and history, daily ritual and habit, it indicates concepts of class and belonging, it connects us to the earth and other living beings. The restaurant highlights seasonal, local and wild foods, and steers clear of factory farming. Antler is a game-themed restaurant … The Black Hoof, one of the city’s most esteemed restaurants, serves many of the kinds of foods that would offend an indignant activist – beef tongue, horse tartare, and of course, foie gras. The protests have resulted in huge promotion for the restaurant, and a bit of a stain on the societal perception of vegans. All our journalism is independent and is in no way influenced by any advertiser or commercial initiative. To Canada’s most urbane city comes a restaurant with a menu that is rural to its roots. By submitting a comment, you accept that CBC has the right to reproduce and publish that comment in whole or in part, in any manner CBC chooses. “I don’t think it would make sense to have a conversation with someone who fundamentally thinks we should be a vegan restaurant,” she says. Marni Ugar organized a protest on Friday, outside of the restaurant Antler Kitchen & Bar, located in the city’s west end. In fact, traditional vegan propaganda often invites defiance, with people who are tired of being told their diets are wrong responding by threatening to increase their meat consumption. Owned by Chef Michael Hunter : @thehunterchef, and Jody Shapiro : @jodyagram, Antler aims to celebrate the wild culinary delights of Canada.. Red Seal Executive Chef Michael Hunter has shaped Antler around an authentic creation of his food, cooking style and philosophy. One of the activists' recent protests garnered international attention after the restaurant's owner carved and ate a deer leg in the window, in defiance of the protesters. Yelp photos show Toronto Antler Kitchen & Bar. Veganism and Antler offer just two different ways to hack our food system, for people to feel more connected and informed about what they eat. On behalf of the many somewhat quieter vegans and vegetarians in this country, I'll say this: not all of us stand behind this type of protesting. Animal rights activists were horrified this weekend when the co-owner of a Dundas West restaurant they'd been protesting for weeks staged what appeared to … The demonstration outside Antler Kitchen and Bar on Dundas St. W. Friday evening, was the fourth time the group had held a protest at that location. Saturday's protest was reportedly the fifth outside Antler Kitchen & Bar, a restaurant that serves local and seasonal food. 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