Meet the Vegetarian Butcher who is stopping people from eating beef

Nestled in the heart of The Hague, Netherlands, is a plant slaughterhouse that is looking to rid the global food chain of animals. The Vegetarian Butcher was founded by ninth generation butcher Jaap Korteweg in 2010. The name of his restaurant – De Vleesch Lobby (The Meat Lobby) – is as confusing as its menu, which serves burgers with 'Vegan Naked Chicken' patties. Korteweg jestingly explains his philosophy, "Instead of feeding grains to animals to turn these into meat, why not cut out the middleman – the pig or chicken?"

The former meat lover was left with a renewed perspective when he was asked whether his cold storage could be used to store tens of thousands of cadavers that fell prey to swine fever and mad cow disease. A three-year search by Korteweg then led to the discovery of plant-based meat substitutes that now fill the restaurant's menu: Vegan Smokey Hotdogs, Vegan NoChicken Teriyaki as well as the NoChicken Chunks and Vegan NoMince, which are hot favourites.

Korteweg, along with concept designer Niko Koffeman and Chef Paul Bom, opened the first Vegetarian Butcher shop eight years ago. It was a traditional butchery that offered vegetarian meat and fish. However, this store now remains shut as the street on which it stands undergoes renovation. But plans to reopen it kick off in 2021. Yet, to continue ushering in the era of meat without animals, Korteweg says, "We are welcoming carnivores, omnivores, herbivores and flexivores for lunch and dinner in our restaurant."

After turning vegetarian, he still had a hankering for meat and needed to satisfy this craving without actually eating animals. The plant-based 'meat', which has a smaller carbon footprint compared to animals, is made of soy, lupine and/or vegetables grown locally in the Netherlands. But for Korteweg, taste remains supreme. "Anyone who tries a poor-tasting meat or dairy substitute is unlikely to return," he asserts, adding, "the biggest obstacle to a plant-based future are meat and dairy substitutes, which lack taste." But with his method of production that employs shear-cell technology, he claims to closely replicate the texture of meat and make the products taste as good as the original. "My team has been working on a 100 per cent plant-based hotdog for the past seven years. The aim was to create a vegan product that would taste sensational, even for the biggest meat lovers. We are now able to smoke it traditionally!" exclaims the 56-year-old.

With points of sale in England, Portugal, Greece, Belgium and Germany among others, the path to veganism isn't quite paved as yet with only 70 per cent of the Vegetarian Butcher's products being vegan. "We target 100 per cent vegan products in our Dutch factory (located in Breda) by the end of next year." Recent expansion into Japan has also got them thinking of other economies like India, China, Brazil and Russia, which Korteweg admits is a challenge. Despite India's rich vegetarian repertoire, it is the non-vegetarians who pose a "big challenge" to the plant butchers. "Meat consumption is associated with prosperity in India," he says. "With greater prosperity comes an increasing demand for products like chicken." Other markets like that of Brazil and China also opt for meat in daily consumption and are one of the largest meat markets in the world.

But the Vegetarian Butcher has other plans. "Our aim is to ensure that new-generation plant-based meat substitutes become available worldwide in the short term," says Korteweg, adding, "Our products will make the need for animals in our food chain a thing of the past."

The meatless way

The Vegetarian Butcher is available in 17 countries at over 4,000 points of sale and has a national range of over 30 products. Their international best sellers are vegan NoChicken Chunks and vegan NoMince. "Once our factory reaches full capacity, we will produce 44,000 pounds of plant-based meat every day," says Jaap Korteweg.