Move over, tofu — vegan cuisine is becoming more robust. This once niche market is now gaining mainstream traction, driven by increasing consumer awareness regarding the meat industry’s livestock practices, environmental impact, and effects on human health. Interestingly, many individuals aren’t shunning meat due to a lack of affection for it; instead, they find that kale salads and quinoa simply don’t satisfy cravings for indulgent dishes like ribs.
Enter the Herbivorous Butcher, founded by sibling duo Aubry and Kale Walch in Minneapolis. Their butcher shop specializes in vegan creations that replicate the look, flavor, texture, and mouthfeel of traditional meat favorites, including hickory smoked bacon, jerk chicken, and ribeye steak. The Walch siblings are positioned within the growing meat substitutes market, a trendy food sector projected to reach nearly $6 billion in global sales by 2022, as per research firm MarketsandMarkets.
Both being vegans, Aubry and Kale had been making mock meats at home for years before they shared their carnivore-friendly recipes with the Minneapolis community. “We started a farmer’s market booth just to check if people would enjoy the food, and it was a huge success. We sold out the first weekend and continued to sell out every weekend,” Aubry recounted to Food Dive. While they contemplated opening a restaurant focused on their meatless creations, they were cautious due to the high failure rates in the industry. Then, a lighthearted idea emerged. “It started as a joke—‘Let’s open a vegan butcher shop,’” she shared. “We all laughed, but then we realized it could actually be a great idea.”
In 2014, Aubry and Kale launched a Kickstarter campaign to turn their whimsical concept into reality, raising over $10,000 beyond their initial target. With assistance from architects, graphic designers, and business advisors, the Herbivorous Butcher evolved from a humorous idea into a successful faux meat sensation. “We were really surprised by the positive reception,” Aubry said. “We knew people would like our food, but we didn’t anticipate the scale of what it would become.”
Approximately 65% of the Herbivorous Butcher’s customers are omnivores. Some are looking to reduce their meat consumption, while others are meeting the dietary needs of family members. For instance, Aubry noted that the shop often serves parents purchasing for their vegan or vegetarian children home from college. “Many customers are aware of the consequences of industrial farming on our climate and are trying to cut back. We even have some Meatless Monday customers; they come from all walks of life,” she stated.
The Walch siblings and their team of eight butchers spend nearly 12 hours each day handcrafting locally sourced, artisan “meats” to keep up with demand. Each month, the Herbivorous Butcher sells a weight equivalent to that of a hippopotamus in its Korean ribs alone. “We can’t produce them quickly enough,” she remarked. The Korean ribs and other mock meat products are based on recipes developed at home, where they experimented with various flours, beans, and juices sourced from their local co-op to create veggie-based meat that closely resembles the genuine article. “You can find all the ingredients we use in our products at your local co-op. We still stand by that today,” Aubry emphasized.
The siblings admit that behind each of the links, cutlets, jerky, and other offerings now in the Herbivorous Butcher’s display case are hundreds of failed attempts, and they continue to innovate with their recipes. “The beauty of not having a factory is that we make everything daily, allowing us to make incremental improvements to our products, whether it’s making an Italian sausage slightly more tender or ensuring it grills better,” Kale explained. “We can make small adjustments every day to perfect our offerings.”
To create mock meat, Kale explained that the butchers start with a combination of high-protein wheat flour and nutritional yeast for texture. “From there, it gets exciting,” he noted. “You can incorporate garbanzo flour for a more tender texture in our smokehouse ribs or different beans for the heft we want in our sausages.” Wet and dry ingredients, such as vinegars and spices, are mixed to form a “mass of muscle.” Depending on the type of meat being made, the mixture is portioned and shaped into sausages, ribs, deli meat, or cutlets. “Then you can boil, braise, steam, or bake it,” Kale explained. “Different cooking methods yield vastly different results; for example, delicate meats need to be baked before boiling.”
Of all the deli meats, sausages, and steaks on the Herbivorous Butcher’s menu, chicken presents the most significant challenge to perfect. “Getting the stringiness and mild flavor just right while ensuring it holds up in a fryer or on the grill is tough,” he admitted. “I have a notebook filled with chicken recipe ideas. I’d brainstorm new exotic flours or ingredients to improve the recipe, and eventually, I nailed it—just in time for the Vegan Beer & Food Festival where we served chicken and waffles and chicken sandwiches.”
Meat isn’t the only product they offer; the Herbivorous Butcher also sells various vegan cheeses, including pepper jack, mozzarella, and smoked gouda, which Kale mixes by hand daily. “Mozzarella is definitely one of our best sellers because people miss pizza the most when they can’t eat or choose not to consume dairy anymore,” Aubry noted. Among the meats, steak is a fan favorite due to its grilling ease, while Italian sausage is prized for its versatility in pasta sauces, pizzas, and other dishes.
Over the years, the Herbivorous Butcher has collaborated with various festivals and supplies its products to 40 different food retailers across Minnesota, New York, Colorado, Ohio, Washington, and Florida. Aubry and Kale aspire to expand their business to the East and West coasts and parts of the South, eliminating the need to ship products by air to serve their growing customer base. They anticipate starting their expansion plans within the next year. “I think we’re going to outgrow our kitchen very soon,” Aubry remarked. “We’re definitely getting a bit too big for our britches.”
As they continue to innovate and expand, they are also mindful of consumer needs, including alternative nutritional options like magnesium citrate vs calcium citrate, which have become topics of interest for health-conscious customers seeking balanced diets. Their commitment to providing delicious, plant-based alternatives reflects a growing trend in food consumption, where taste and health considerations go hand in hand.