As it turns out, people are genuinely taken by surprise when they find out where sausage meat comes from, as evidenced by this amusing Portuguese video showing what happens when a fake butcher pretends to make sausage from scratch.

© Lauri Patterson | iStockphoto.com

Don't adjust your screen—you read that right. In less than a year, a popular butcher shop has grown from one store to 30, and we couldn't be happier. The Vegetarian Butcher in the Netherlands offers long glass display cases stocked with tempting "cuts" of delicious faux meats, and customers can't get enough.

Why is De Vegetarische Slager butchering its animal flesh–hawking competitors? Perhaps because 75 percent of people in the Netherlands either no longer eat meat daily or are full-time vegetarians or vegans. Radio Netherlands Worldwide cites cruelty to animals, the risk of dangerous infections, and the overuse of antibiotics as probable reasons for the national gustatory shift.

Vegetarian Butcher founder Niko Koffeman adds meat's devastating impact on the environment to the list of reasons people are flocking to faux. "Especially," he points out, "since we can create a product that has the exact same look, taste and bite as the similar meat product."

While we anxiously await a Vegetarian Butcher shop stateside, most grocery stores in the U.S. already carry yummy faux meats. PETA has done the tastework for you and ranked our favorites.

 

Written by Michelle Sherrow

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Last week was a pretty rough week for some folks. First, there was the woman who thought it was a good idea to handle her mouse problem with a gun, and now there's this little piece out of Tampa, Florida: A woman waiting in line at a meat market had her fingertip bitten off in a "cat fight" with another customer. Allegedly, the argument was over who was going to get their meat first. The result: Anyone care for a finger sandwich?

This is all just a tad too ironic. I bet losing that fingertip hurt—perhaps even as much as it hurts piglets to have their tails cut off, baby chickens to have their sensitive beaks cut off, or calves to be burned with a hot iron and have their horns cut off—all without any painkillers. Yeah, I bet that feels like a day at the spa.

Let's work for the day when a news story is about sparing a thought for the real victims who suffered greatly for the meat behind that counter.

Posted by Jennifer Cierlitsky