Lindy and Grundy are married couple Amelia Posada and Erika Nakamura, the women behind LA’s badass sustainably butcher shop, Lindy & Grundy. The nicknames are just “silly little pet names for each other,” Posada explains, but their business is anything but: this week they traveled to Washington DC to speak at a White House event honoring the top 100 entrepreneurs in the country under 30 years of age, according to the Chamber of Commerce. Having reveled in that glory, the duo is back in LA, packing up their truck to participate in this weekend’s Eat Real Festival, held at Culver City’s Helms Bakery. (Free! I’ll be there!) Posada took a few moments to talk to us about food politics, Whole Foods, and her favorite LA restaurants.
What made you want to join in on this food festival in particular?
We’ve worked with these people before, and we love their mission of getting local artisans together and teaching people to grow their own food. You don’t see a lot of that in the US.
And you’ll be doing a butchery competition there?
Yes, and we’re also closing the shop, bringing our refrigerated truck to the fest and selling meat there.
Tell us about the bourgeoning Butcher’s Guild – you seemed pretty involved in that.
We’re members, and good friends with Tia and Marisa, the people who started the Guild. Because my store just opened, I’ve been too busy to do much with them lately, but I did start their twitter and was tweeting for them for a while. It is, obviously, something we’re hugely supportive of.
Is there one definitive way to eat sustainably and/or healthfully?
I don’t think there’s just one way to do it. Eating locally and sustainably doesn’t have to mean eating meat, like we do, but maybe you don’t buy groceries at Whole Foods, which is a huge corporation that’s just actively greenwashing everything they sell. You know, so many vegetarians mindlessly eat conventional dairy products, which is a byproduct of mainstream meat industry.
We have a first-world privilege. No one’s saving the world by eating a certain meal, but it’s important to be conscious of how you consume. Anybody that eats meat should support local. The same goes for vegetables, too. Radical vegans will go into Whole Foods and buying over packaged, processed vegan food from who knows where … Again, it’s first-world problem.
Have you ever personally convinced a vegetarian to see where you’re coming from? Or even … a vegan?
I don’t think we should debate about food. It should be a discussion about food politics. I don’t try to convince anyone to eat meat, because I don’t care if they do or not. But, a lot of vegetarians do come in here, looking to start eating meat. I’m happy to hold their hands through it. One girl, a vegan, came in on her doctor’s recommendation. She’s severely anemic and she was ordered to eat beef liver. We have tons of meat she’s never seen before, and I understood where she’s coming from – I didn’t eat meat for four years. After a few weeks, she wanted a steak. Other vegetarians shop for their families here, getting Strauss Creamery whole milk, etc.
Do you have any restaurants in LA you return to frequently?
I just sold four pig heads to Animal, and we go there pretty frequently. We’re good friends with them. I go often to Akasha, and Ford’s, in Culver City. Ben Ford’s a whole animal guy, and he uses the same pig rancher as us.
