Vegan protesters outside Antler Kitchen & Bar in Toronto as its chef carves up in the window. Photo / news.com.au
Meet the meat.
That's how one Canadian chef sought to take revenge on a persistent bunch of vegan protesters who had been camping out front of his Toronto restaurant.
For three months, Michael Hunter had been the target of shouts including "You're a murderer" and "You've got blood on your hands", news.com.au reports.
His business, Antler Kitchen & Bar, was targeted because it prides itself on offering pasture-raised deer and foraged ingredients.
And Hunter is himself an activist.
While he cannot serve hunted meat, his own family indulges — regularly.
He is deadset against factory faming, and insists that every part of the animal's carcass must be exploited to justify its slaughter.
So his little restaurant offers dishes including braised boar, boar sausage and bacon, smoked boar-belly — and boar's head terrine (meat loaf).
His venison menu is similarly extensive. And there are even several exotic vegan dishes including ingredients such as locally foraged mushrooms.
But his troubles began after a joke between neighbours turned sour.
Businesses along the street often playfully trash-talk each other's products through their outdoor signboards.
But Hunter appears to have taken it too far.
He put on his placard: "Venison is the new kale".
Vegans saw red.
"There was no offence meant," Hunter told the Globe and Mail. "I'm not trying to promote a meat diet. I have a lot of respect for the vegan diet because I know how hard it is."
His apology was not accepted.
The sign was spotted by Marni Ugar as she was engaged in her dog-walking business.
Ugar is vegan and a practised animal-rights protester, so she organised a demonstration for December 7. And several more since.
She says she wants to debunk claims that pasture-raised "organic" animals are more ethical than factory farming, and that Hunter's frugal practices make eating meat in any way better.
"Ultimately, the reason I chose Antler is because my goal is to debunk the ethical meat myth, which is what Antler is known for," she says. "The goal always is for a restaurant to go fully vegan ... To reduce the animals they kill, for me, isn't good enough."
With business suffering and stress levels rising, chef Hunter took matters into his own hands.
"I hoped it would fizzle out and go away," he said.
On March 23, with a bunch of rowdy vegans on his doorstep, Hunter grabbed a cutting board, a carving knife, and a hindquarter of deer.
He went to his shop's front window, and set to work preparing it for use.
The police were called. They couldn't see what the fuss was about.
"After, I didn't feel good about it," Hunter later conceded. "I felt like they got to me and I played into them."
But business is up: reservations have been on the rise since the standoff went public.
‘Mum had lived and died with this secret,’ says writer Mary Garden.