Here Come the Animal Rights Activists: Outrage Over Verdad’s “Backyard Sausages” Dish

This morning, Bryn Mawr restaurant Verdad sent out notices about its new Salchicha de mi Patio (aka Sausages from my Backyard) dish. “Rabbits destroy the vegetable gardens, ducks feast on flowerbeds, and deer destroy millions of dollars in landscaping,” said chef Nick Farina in an e-mail. So, he found revenge in a $28 shared dish featuring house-made rabbit, duck and venison sausages.

“Diners can make sandwiches or tacos out of the furry creatures that trash their yards and flower beds,” Farina explained. “What a delicious way to flip the paradigm and take something from a few species that takes so much from us.”

Not everyone is enthused.

Over lunch service today, the emails began rolling in:

You’ve got to be kidding. Do you think that taking pleasure in animal cruelty is a way to promote a restaurant???? I doubt that your sick sense of publicity will attract diners to the restaurant — most people are not as sadistic as you obviously are.

and…

My first reaction was to be sickened, and my second was to say, “WHAAAAAAT? Takes so much from us? Humans destroy habitat for endless unnecessary shopping areas and expensive homes, mutilate and kill all forms of wildlife for recreation, and injure them with our cars when we are speeding, talking on cell phones, and driving drunk and distracted. They try to survive by living on the tiny but of land which we have left to them. This is MUCH MUCH MUCH less destructive than anything we do. This is no justification for killing even more of them…

Sincerely,
Jenny Reimenschneider, President
Mobilization for Animals – PA, Inc.

Reached by telephone this afternoon, the chef responds: “We were poking a little fun at things. All the animals used in making the sausage was all raised to be food. It’s no different than the steak that somebody  is eating. We were having a little bit of fun, and some people just took it the wrong way. I’m an animal supporter. I have a dog. One of the guys in my kitchen has three dogs. I think it just got a little carried away. If I was a hunter and legally licensed and went out in the proper season and killed a deer and duck and rabbit and made food and ate it, I’m not doing anything that mankind hasn’t been doing since its existence.”

PETA protesters, take note: Verdad opens for dinner service at 5 p.m. today.

Anxious diners, take note: the controversial dish is only $20 on Tuesdays.