Hounded by vegan protesters outside his Toronto nose-to-tail restaurant for months, a chef finally snapped and began breaking down a deer’s leg in the window of the restaurant right in front of them.
As the Globe and Mail reports, Antler restaurant had been the subject of protests from a growing group of vegans led by local woman Marni Ugar since December, after an employee jokingly wrote ‘Venison is the new kale’ on a restaurant chalkboard to taunt another local restaurant. It’s worth noting that Antler has vegan options on its menu.
With the vegans having recently resorted to shouting ‘murderer’ every time the door to the restaurant was opened and with foot fall down, chef-owner Michael Hunter, who is, aptly a hunter, forager and ethical farming advocate, decided he would stage his own protest “I figured, I’ll show them. I’m going to have my own protest,” he said.
Setting the deer leg down on a sanitised counter in the window, he began to butcher it much to the vegans’ disgust. The incident was captured on video below, and as you can see the police show up one point, but by all accounts, no charges were brought.
A post shared by the melancholy walrus (@themelancholywalrus) on Mar 27, 2018 at 8:18pm PDT
After butchering the meat Hunter headed back the kitchen, before returning with a cooked piece of venison, which he then proceeded to eat in the window in full view of the protestors, reports the National Post.
Hunter has since said that he regrets the move, feeling he has played into the vegans’ hands. He has offered to take the group on a foraging expedition and to cook them a vegan menu, but these offers have been declined according to reports. Since the incident however, the restaurant’s bookings are up.
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