HOLY COW
CHEWS CHICKEN
Funky food fixture figures flexivores are the future BY SHANNON FINNELL
I
t’s a brave new world, and Holy Cow worshippers
acknowledge that even omnivores are getting
involved in the ethical decisions about what they
eat. When café co-owner Katherine Lavine decided
to bite the bullet after 14 years of considering an off-
campus location and open a second restaurant in the
space of the former Fina Taqueria, she knew it was time
to apply the local, organic, environmentally friendly
Holy Cow philosophy to a brand new set of
circumstances.
Lavine still thinks sticking to vegetarianism or
veganism is the best way to eat, but she also admits
that some people will always eat meat for various
reasons. She didn’t want insistent omnivores to be
stuck with non-organic meat raised in tortuous
conditions, so she and her co-owner, head chef Anton
Ferreira, decided to embrace the concept of
“flexivores.” Flexivores eat meat but consciously try
to eat more meals without meat, and when they do eat
meat they try to do so in smaller portions.
“One of the things that I’ve learned is that there is
a class of people that think if there’s no meat, they
can’t eat there, so groups of people miss out,” Lavine
says. By ensuring that Eugeneans craving chicken and
fish can follow their friends to the mostly vegetarian
and vegan restaurant, she plans to draw a new crowd
to Holy Cow while still providing local organic meals
further down the food web.
To Lavine, moving toward flexivorism embraces
the original concept that she and Ferreira planned
when they created Holy Cow as a vendor to local
restaurants 20 years ago.
“We wanted to change the world by changing the
food system,” Lavine says. And while Lavine’s not
taking all of the credit for it, Eugene’s food system is
slowly transitioning toward a more local and organic-
based bank of foodstuffs.
The new location offers separate, color-coded
menus and plates for vegetarians and vegans who want
to make sure that even things they aren’t eating are
strictly “nothing with a mother or a face.” There’s also
a gluten-free menu to avoid celiac flour-torture.
Holy Cow chef Ferreira (Lavine calls him a
“restless improver”) is using the new space to expand
the number of things they cook in house. Pita bread
and tortillas are now made fresh on the premises.
Another advantage of opening a second location is
its off-campus location – can you smell the booze?
Holy Cow is building its local, organic wine and beer
Katherine Lavine and some
of the Holy Cow crew
list with Oakshire Brewing and Hopworks Urban
Brewing, and hopes to add more soon.
For its opening, Lavine and Ferreira decided to try
a “pay as you go” experiment, allowing customers to
order at the counter, eat, then pay what they felt the
meal was worth. Lavine says customers seemed
slightly uncomfortable with such freedom.
“I think it was hard for people to grasp,” she says,
“they just wanted to be told what the prices were.” If
Holy Cow repeats the experiment, Lavine says she
would consider skipping the counter and cash register
altogether, to avoid the awkwardness of standing at
the register and not paying.
The owners are still working out the décor while
the restaurant is up and running. In the same tradition
as their long search for an additional location, they
have local artists Brandi York and Rachel Wolfe-
Goldsmith working on murals, both inside and out.
Michael Martin is creating a courtyard mosaic. “We
try to support not just our farmers but local craftsmen
as well,” Levine says. “The sense of community is
central to what Holy Cow is about.” ■
Holy Cow Restaurant, 2621 Willamette; 852-4659; open 11am-8pm every
day, hours to expand.
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CHOW! Winter 2011 7