5 QUESTIONS TO A SUSTAINABLE ENTREPRENEUR: JAAP KORTEWEG - THE VEGETARIAN BUTCHER

Jaap Korteweg

1. Can you explain in 1 paragraph what your business involves?

About one year ago (04-10-2010) we opened our shop in The Hague, the first Vegetarian Butcher in the world! We had a unique opportunity to take advantage of the organic culture of lupine. Together with the best chefs in the Netherlands we have developed a range of meat free products with a spectacular structure and taste.

2. Why can we call your service sustainable?

With our products, we can feed 5 times as many people with the same amount of effort (energy, water, farmland) in comparison to meat. This means it is better for animals, biological diversity and therefore also for people. The global consumption of meat continues to grow every year. Let's face it, people like meat. Data shows that the popularity of meat substitutes is also growing and that's why we invested in the development of vegetable-based meat substitutes that have the exact same feel as meat. Same looks, same bite, same structure. Why eat meat, when we can liberate animals from the food chain, save biodiversity, work on a stable climate and feed 30 billion humans with a vegetable based diet? At this moment, 50% of the world grain harvest is being fed to livestock and 80% of farmland is used to keep livestock. We can fight hunger, obesity and unsustainable production and eat even more tasty food than we do now.

Picnic in a lupine field

Our products are made of soy (Non GMO) and lupine. Lupine is grown locally and is not genetically or chemically engineered. It is a naturally occurring plant that is very suitable to grow organically. In addition to this, lupine plants are great for the soil as they convert nitrogen from the atmosphere into nitrogen compounds in the ground. Last but not least, lupine plants have beautiful flowers, which of course is a beautiful sight in the (Dutch) landscape.

3. What were the biggest obstacles you had to overcome when starting your business?

Finding the ways of how to make tasty/juicy meat substitutes from soy and lupin flour with a similar bite as real meat. But we did it!
The Vegetarian Butcher has started a revolution within the meat industry. People keep being positively surprised about the taste and structure of our meat substitutes, not only vegetarians (5% of the Dutch population), but also meat eaters. Sometimes non-vegetarians try them out of curiosity, sometimes because friends have recommended our products. Therefore, a growing amount of people find that, with our tasty meat substitutes on the menu, you can enjoy your meal the same or even more (!) on these 'meatless days'. This way the amount of 'flexitarians' keeps growing and ultimately the amount of days with meat on the menu will decline. This is our highest ambition.

Greek spicy chicken

4. What is the best tip you ever had?

The tip about how to make juicy chicken 'meat' from flour, a Dutch invention.

5. Where do you find your inspiration when it comes to sustainability?

Natural processes that can repeat endlessly without human interference.