Move aside, tofu—vegan cuisine is taking a meaty turn. This once niche food market is now entering the mainstream, driven by an increasing consumer awareness of the meat industry’s livestock practices, environmental impact, and effects on human health. However, many people aren’t giving up meat due to a lack of affection for it; they often feel that kale salads and quinoa don’t quite measure up to a juicy rack of ribs.
Enter the Herbivorous Butcher, founded by sibling duo Aubry and Kale Walch in Minneapolis. This butcher shop specializes in vegan creations that replicate the look, taste, texture, and mouthfeel of traditional meat favorites like hickory smoked bacon, jerk chicken, and ribeye steak. The Walch siblings are part of the burgeoning meat substitute market, which is projected to reach nearly $6 billion in global sales by 2022, according to MarketsandMarkets.
As vegans themselves, Aubry and Kale experimented with mock meat recipes at home for years before sharing their creations with the Minneapolis community. “We started a booth at a farmer’s market to see if people would like our food, and it went incredibly well—we sold out the first weekend and kept selling out until we couldn’t keep up,” Aubry shared with Food Dive. Although they considered opening a restaurant focused on their meatless offerings, they were mindful of the industry’s high failure rates. Then, a lightbulb moment struck: “It began as a joke—‘Let’s open a vegan butcher shop,’” Aubry recounted. “We all laughed, but then we realized it was a genuine idea worth pursuing.”
In 2014, the siblings launched a Kickstarter campaign to turn this idea into reality, surpassing their original goal by over $10,000. With the assistance of architects, graphic designers, and business advisors, the Herbivorous Butcher evolved from an inside joke into a successful faux meat phenomenon. “We were genuinely surprised by the positive reception,” Aubry said. “We knew people would enjoy our food, but we didn’t anticipate the scale of what it would become.”
Interestingly, about 65% of the Herbivorous Butcher’s customers are omnivores. Some are reducing their meat intake, while others are catering to the dietary preferences of family members. For instance, Aubry noted that the shop frequently serves parents shopping for their vegan or vegetarian children during college breaks. “Many customers have recognized the impact of industrial farming on our climate and are trying to cut back. There are also those who participate in Meatless Mondays. Our clientele is quite diverse,” she added.
Aubry and Kale, along with a team of eight butchers, spend nearly 12 hours each day crafting artisan “meats” sourced locally to meet customer demand. The shop sells a weight equivalent to that of a hippo in Korean ribs alone each month. “We can’t produce them fast enough,” she said. The recipes for the Korean ribs and other mock meat items stem from experiments at home, where they combined various flours, beans, and juices from their local co-op to create veggie-based meats that could pass for the real deal. “You can find all the ingredients we use at your local co-op. We still stand by that today,” Aubry emphasized.
The siblings admit that hundreds of failed recipes have paved the way for the links, cutlets, jerky, and more now filling the Herbivorous Butcher’s display case, and they continually innovate based on current formulas. “The beauty of not having a factory is that we can make small daily improvements to our products, whether it’s making an Italian sausage slightly more tender or enhancing its grilling properties,” Kale explained. “We can make tiny adjustments every day to perfect our products.”
To create their mock meats, Kale explained that the process starts with a mix of high-protein wheat flour and nutritional yeast to build texture. “From there, it gets interesting,” he said. “We can incorporate chickpea flour to create the tender meat found in our smokehouse ribs or different beans to achieve the desired heft in our sausages.” Wet and dry ingredients, including vinegars and spices, are combined in a mixer to form what they call “a mass of muscle.” Depending on the type of meat being produced, butchers then portion the mixture into sausages or flatten it for ribs, deli meats, or cutlets. “Then you can boil it, braise it like our ribs, steam it, or bake it,” Kale elaborated. “Different cooking methods yield vastly different results. For instance, delicate meats should be baked before boiling.”
Among all of their deli meats, sausages, and steaks, Kale identified chicken as the trickiest mock meat to master. “Getting the stringiness and mild flavor just right while ensuring it holds up on the grill or in a fryer is quite a challenge,” he noted. “I have a notebook filled with chicken recipe ideas and would often brainstorm new exotic flours or ingredients to incorporate. Eventually, I nailed it—just in time for the Vegan Beer & Food Festival, where we served chicken and waffles and chicken sandwiches.”
The Herbivorous Butcher doesn’t just stop at meat; they also offer vegan cheese varieties like pepper jack, mozzarella, and smoked gouda, which Kale mixes by hand daily. “Mozzarella is definitely one of our best sellers, as I think pizza is what people miss the most when they stop consuming dairy,” Aubrey remarked.
Among the meats, the steak is a crowd favorite because of how easily it grills, while Italian sausage is highly valued for its versatility in pasta sauces and pizzas. Over the years, the Herbivorous Butcher has collaborated with various festivals and supplies its products to around 40 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, as well as parts of the South, so they can eliminate the need for air shipping to serve their growing customer base. They anticipate that expansion will commence within the next year. “I believe we’re going to outgrow our kitchen very soon,” Aubry said. “We’re definitely getting a bit too big for our britches.”
In addition to their culinary innovations, they are also exploring health supplements such as calcium citrate tablets 500mg, which have various uses that can be beneficial for their customers. “We’re always looking for ways to enhance our offerings and contribute positively to our customers’ health,” Aubry added. With their commitment to crafting delicious, plant-based alternatives, the Herbivorous Butcher is reshaping the landscape of vegan cuisine.