Let’s finish out the weekend with a story about Californians being Californians, because… California. Terces and Matthew Engelhart have made quite the life for themselves out on the left coast over the past decade, having established a small chain of “organic, plant-based” restaurants which specialize in completely vegan food. They apparently attract Hollywood celebrities who are impressed not only by the business ethic of their eateries, but the “Love Farm” where they raise much of their produce, presumably in a Gaia approved fashion. They’ve published a book which explains the tenets of their “sacred enterprise” which is a must read for the nature loving set.

And now they’re receiving death threats… not from some evil, radical right wing carnivore crew, but from their own customers. It turns out that the Engelharts have betrayed the goddess entirely and gone back to eating meat. (Washington Post)

Recently, animal rights activists unearthed the unthinkable, as far as vegan icons are concerned: a blog post announcing the Engelharts’ “transition” to eating meat after 40 years of vegetarianism. The post was published more than a year ago, but it had slipped past the notice of most, buried in a series of ruminations on the website for the couple’s Be Love Farm, in Vacaville, Calif…

Accompanying photos showed several Mason jars filled to the brim with beef broth, as well as a freezer stuffed with pastured beef — “our pastured beef.”

The response has been incredible. Boycotts, death threats and denouncements from the high priests of veganism. (That’s a thing, right?) You need to read the full article just for the quotes of the wounded soldiers of the left who are ready to engage in some very non-loving activity by essentially nailing the Engelharts’ hides to their own barn roof.

For their part, the owners offer a variety of reasons for returning to an omnivorous lifestyle after nearly forty years of living on twigs and roots, none of which are terribly comprehensible. They talk about preserving their own mortality, but I was left unsure whether that meant that the vegan lifestyle was affecting their health or they were simply so sick of kale that they were about to hang themselves. They also launch into a lengthy explanation of how cows are important to the planet because their presence makes the plants grow and… and… I guess that means you need to kill them and eat them?

None of this really bothers me except the inherent phoniness of needing to justify having a hamburger. How about just because it tastes good? Or perhaps because you looked at your teeth in the mirror and remembered that you were designed to chew and digest both plants and animals? Or maybe you just really didn’t like the look on the cow’s face. Whatever, my friends. Let’s just fire up the grill and get the steaks ready.

I only point this story out because I recently saw another news item which claimed that the San Andreas fault line was primed and ready to let loose The Big One any day now, possibly dropping portions of the Golden State into the Pacific. I personally have my doubts about the ability of seismologists to predict earthquakes with that level of accuracy just yet, but in case it does happen, just think back on the reaction of all the patrons of these vegan restaurants. You’ll probably grieve a little less after the waves from the ensuing tsunami subside.