Episode Transcript: #765 - Tovar Cerulli
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No? Yes? Live? Alright, we're live. Hey, what's up man? How are you? I'm well. I'm here with
Tovar Cerulli. He's got his pen and his notebook out like he's about to take notes. Author of
The Mindful Carnivore. Boy, you went an unusual path, man, and this is one of the reasons why I
really wanted to talk to you. I've read some of your stuff and I've seen some interviews with
you online. Obviously a very intelligent, very thoughtful guy. You started out a vegan
and became a hunter. Boy, that's a tricky path. And it had to be fraught with peril. Right?
I mean, how much grief did you take for that, first of all? You know, not as much as I kind
of anticipated. Really? Well, it's because you live in Vermont. It could be part of it.
They can't get you up there. And it's a funny blend of cultures there. I mean, I didn't become
vegetarian until I was like 20. So I spent basically 20 to 30 as vegetarian, mostly vegan
that whole time. And so then in my early 30s, I made this kind of bizarre transition into
being a hunter. And I wondered how friends, not so much family, because I had one uncle
who was a hunter and was well-respected. Welcome back, son.
Right. But friends, I wondered, what was that going to be like? And there were some occasionally
odd moments with friends or neighbors, but not as much as you might expect.
What was it that made you switch over? Was there a moment? Was it a realization? Was it
an accumulation of information? What was it?
I mean, the switch to being vegetarian had a lot to do with ethics and animal welfare
and compassion. And then it became other issues, environmental, you know, all kinds of things.
The switch back, the first step really was starting to realize that my diet, whatever I was eating,