On Earth Day chef Mollie Engelhart took to social media with an announcement that rocked L.A.’s vegan community: Her pillar of plant-based dining, Sage Vegan Bistro, would become Sage Regenerative Kitchen & Brewery and begin serving meat and dairy.
Following a vegan diet, the chef-owner said, is no longer enough to combat climate change, so the new iteration of Sage will focus on sourcing and proselytizing regenerative farming practices. That, along with years of post-pandemic financial losses, moved Engelhart to introduce beef, bison, cheese and eggs from regenerative farms into her Echo Park, Culver City and Pasadena restaurants.
The backlash on social media was swift. More than 3,000 comments have poured in, some calling it “a sham,” “deeply disturbing,” “a bummer announcement,” “a huge betrayal to animals,” “devastating,” a “horrific transition” and “profit disguised as environmental progress.” Dozens of vegan and animal-wellness organizations and influencers have shared the news, some calling for a boycott.
“I understand their passion and I understand their sadness and I understand their anger,” Engelhart told The 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 vulnerable to publicly say, ‘I believed one thing, and maybe I was wrong and now I believe something else,’” she continued, “but I hope that it inspires people in their own lives to be willing to be open-minded when something else makes more sense to you.”