Popular Los Angeles vegan restaurant to add meat, dairy to dishes: ‘I’ve changed my mind’ on vegan diet

A preferred Los Angeles vegan restaurant lately introduced it plans to add meat to its menu. 

Sage Plant Based Bistro will turn out to be Sage Regenerative Kitchen & Brewery and can add animal merchandise, together with beef, bison, cheese and eggs, to its menu beginning on May 29.

Owner Mollie Engelhart introduced the transfer in an Earth Day Instagram message, explaining the main focus of the restaurant would shift to focus on regenerative agriculture, which is an method to farming that prioritizes soil well being, biodiversity and pure processes, according to the Regenerative Farmers of America. 

“To some, this may seem shocking or upsetting, but if you look at the last seven years of my life and as I moved into regenerative farming to serve the highest quality food to my customers, I started to learn so much about soil and nature and I realized that when I started Sage Plant Based Bistro, I thought a vegan diet was what was best,” she stated. “After 7 years of regenerative farming … I’ve changed my mind.”

“I want to create a restaurant that honors these small farms, these regenerative farmers that are trying to do the right thing when our whole food system is being completely centralized into factory farming and monoculture vegetables,” she continued. 

USDA APPROVES FIRST ‘LAB-GROWN’ MEAT TO BE SOLD TO THE PUBLIC

Engelhart faced backlash on social media following the announcement on Instagram. The publish has garnered nearly 4,500 feedback with many customers expressing disappointment or disgust on the determination. 

“I understand their passion and I understand their sadness and I understand their anger,” Engelhart instructed the Los Angeles Times. “I had the same views of the world that they did before I shifted my ideas based on my experience in farming, and I have compassion for what they’re feeling. I hope that the vegan community and the regenerative community can really come together because I think they’re both powerful, powerful pathways for change.

“It’s weak to publicly say, ‘I believed one thing, and maybe I was wrong, and now I believe something else,’ however I hope that it conjures up folks in their very own lives to be prepared to be open-minded when one thing else makes extra sense to you,” she added. 

VEGAN EGG MARKET PROJECTED TO GROW BY NEARLY $1 BILLION BEFORE 2028: REPORT

Engelhart instructed the outlet that she contemplated the choice for 18 months as a result of she knew she would face “vitriol” for doing so. She also said her restaurants have struggled post-pandemic. In the past, the restaurants would bring in $7 million annually, but since 2020 they haven’t been profitable. 

A young woman carries a shopping basket filled with fresh produce.  (iStock / iStock)

VEGETARIANS, VEGANS AREN’T EATING MOST OF THE PLANT-BASED ALTERNATIVES: REPORT

Other restaurants in the city, including Hot Tongue and Burgerlords, have made similar decisions based on financial viability, the L.A. Times reported. But, Engelhart said her decision goes beyond finances as she said it is a way to support ecologically sustainable practices through regenerative farming. 

“I’m not simply saying I’m including meat to the menu to attempt to get extra clients,” Engelhart said. “I’m saying that I believe a very powerful pathway ahead for sequestering carbon is bovine on grass, and to ensure that us to have that at scale, we want folks to support it.”

Engelhart told The Times that people are eating meat “all over the place” she looks. 

Engelhart said she wants to support ecologically sustainable practices through regenerative farming.  (iStock / iStock)

“If you need to eat meat … the place are you able to go get high-quality meat that was raised in a means that’s reversing local weather change fairly than inflicting local weather change?” she asked. “It’s a numbers sport. … I believe that the following step ahead is regenerative agriculture, and for that to transfer ahead it wants to be within the zeitgeist, it wants to be in our on a regular basis conversations. And that is my means to contribute to that, to give folks choices.”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS

Sage Regenerative Kitchen & Brewery did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.