The Difficulty of Naming ft. Rudy’s Vegan Butcher

So much emphasis falls on a name. It simultaneously signifies your identity whilst remaining utterly meaningless, defining nothing of your individuality or essence – unless you count Zoe, of course, which is Greek for life so, yes, I am the meaning of life. Move along.

Naming has become a particularly significant issue for me the past weeks as I struggled to come up with a name for my site. This reflected the massive identity crisis that I was (am?) going through. A site is only as strong as the mind it came from and these are demanding times we are facing, bringing up a lot of issues for everybody as we have nowhere to hide from ourselves. I may also have been procrastinating just a smidge

The real focal point of this article, however, is Rudy’s, England’s first Vegan Butcher shop who were met with a lot of outrage when they opened their doors in November. The main concern of the general public being the fact that they called themselves a Butcher shop yet sell no substance of animal origin. This isn’t the first time the vegan industry has faced criticism over the use of beefed-up terms for their meatless products. A few months back there were movements to rename plant-based burger patties to ‘veggies discs’ which got me thinking about the utter ridiculousness of it all. As a former meat-eater, I preferred to refer to my food as pork not pig, creating detachment by removing the name, so I don’t really understand what the fuss is all about.

Anyway, this reminded me of a book I had recently perused whilst down an academic research black hole called The Sexual Politics of Meat: A feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory.

I can’t testify to the seriousness of my review of this book as it made some rather bold claims alongside some more valid ones. It did get me thinking about the use of naming, however, as it claims: “Language is a powerful tool. The words we choose do more than name or describe things; they assign status and value” (p. 47). As you render the fat from the meat so do you render down the animal with language, reducing it to an object of consumption.

Whilst scanning this book, I couldn’t help but create an amusing narrative in my head that, if women are other to men, so too is soy other to meat, equating the two, and creating an eco-feminist stance that by calling Rudy’s a Butcher, they are committing patriarchal aggression within our society.

As women stare through the windows of Rudy’s, salivating over a Soysage, they may see themselves reflected back in the glass. A Butcher shop specialises in dismembered parts and these fragments are then objectified and leered at through a hungry gaze. Women are subjected to similar to this.

When asked about their sexual fantasies, many men describe “pornographic scenes of disembodied, faceless, impersonal body parts: breasts, legs, vaginas, buttocks. Meat for the average consumer has been reduced to exactly that: faceless body parts, breasts, legs, udders, buttocks” (P. 39).

And if we think about, a knife can definitely be considered a phallic object. Although, Rudy’s do have a marvellous meat slicer that they use instead.

Since starting this article a few months ago (the procrastination has been real), the EU government has voted Yes to a new amendment (171) which could make it illegal for plant-based products to contain any reference to dairy in any way! This plant-based censorship is outrageous quite frankly, to the point where they’re banning the use of “Thick and Creamy” as a way to describe dairyless objects. I mean, I may resemble the cow more than the milk but does that mean I can’t describe my damn delicious, mylk-coloured thighs in this way? Ahhhh, and now we’re back to thinking of women as disembodied parts. Please, feel free to compare my drumsticks to the humble chicken thigh fillet, juicy and delectable.

Not only does this amendment limit language but it could make it near impossible to compare the environmental impacts which, at the moment, is displayed on the packaging, making greener and more conscious choices possible. Avoiding meat and dairy is the single biggest way of reducing contributions to the climate crisis as well as poor animal welfare.

Despite attempts to silence, the plant-based industry is continuing to boom with more and more options becoming available. Including Rudy’s. In fact, all I wanted to do was right an article about Rudy’s and rave about Baycon so good you could beat your m£*t over it, but I thought I’d approach it from a different angle. Rudy’s is the antithesis of aggression and it is the name ‘Butcher’ that has the aggressive stigma attached to it. Why can’t we separate the name from the act and (I do love a Roland Barthes reference) art from artist?

But why all this focus on the latter half of the title if naming is so precious? Perhaps the fact that it’s named after a man is why it’s so patriarchal? Well, this is incorrect as Rudy is actually the nickname of co-founder Ruth. Let’s dissect the name Rudy further, the meaning of which is ‘famous wolf’. Is it being named after a predator that is causing such outrage? This wolf certainly has notoriety but not for its hunting abilities. Wolves are actually quite misunderstood, much like this Butcher shop, they actually symbolise guardianship and Rudy’s continue to be a guardian for the earth as they advocate plant-based nutrition.

The proof is in the Black Puddin’ as Rudy’s has continued to thrive despite objections, the environmentally ignorant and a worldwide pandemic.