The Vegan Butcher

As I sit here writing the fifth post in our “Into the Woods” series, my dear readers, I am listening to the soundtrack of another wicked Stephen Sondheim musical, “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”. While it’s an amazing musical and I love it more than most people love cake, I cannot see it inspiring a blog series anytime soon (unless anyone has any ideas for finding a vegan substitute for human flesh). No, for now I think we’ll stick to the slightly happier and definitely more vegan-friendly Sondheim musical, “Into the Woods”.

So far in this series we have discovered Cinderella, Little Red, Jack, and Milky White. In this post we are going to learn more about the villain of this tale, the witch who lives next door to the baker and his wife. (more…)

It’s time once again to head out of the kitchen and into the woods! This is the fourth post in our series on “Into the Woods”, Stephen Sondheim’s wonderful Broadway musical. Are you confused? New to theveganbutcher.com? Behind on the times? Living under a rock? Fret not! You can catch up here, here, and here.

In “Into the Woods”, Jack (of the classic tale Jack and the Beanstalk) lives with his mother in a tumbledown home with no money and only an old cow to their name. Said cow, Milky White, is Jack’s only friend, but she must be sold to bring some much needed gold into the household. Milky White hadn’t given milk for a while before they decide to sell her, which sets up this recipe perfectly: (more…)

It’s time for our third post in the “Into the Woods” series! If you don’t know what I’m talking about, where have you been? Do some back reading now to get in the loop.

Another fairy tale character involved in Stephen Sondheim’s “Into the Woods” is dear Jack, of Jack and the Beanstalk fame. In this story Jack and his mother have fallen on hard times and she sends him into the woods to sell their cow—his one and only (and rather beloved) friend, Milky White.

So off goes Jack, with explicit instructions from his brilliant and shockingly beautiful mother (can you tell which role I played in our high school production?) to get as much gold as he possibly can for the worse-for-the-wear creature.

Jack, being a bit of a dolt, is tricked into giving up Milky White for five magic beans. Were I really Jack’s mother, this is what I would have done with them. (more…)

It’s time for our next post in the “Into the Woods” series! If you missed the first I recommend that you read back so as not to be totally and utterly confused during this post.

Next up on our list of fairy tale characters to explore: Little Red Riding Hood.

In “Into the Woods” Little Red is a chubby little thing that loves her sweets. She stops by the Baker’s house on her way into the woods to visit her grandmother and places an order…all for Granny, of course:

“It’s not for me, it’s for my Granny in the woods. A loaf of bread, please—to bring my poor old hungry Granny in the woods… Just a loaf of bread, please… And perhaps a sticky bun? Or four? And a few of those pies, please… I sort of hate to ask it, but do you have a basket?” (more…)

I am a theatre kid. I sing incessantly and love everything about Broadway. In high school a friend and I started the theatre troupe at my school and I took part in all productions we staged during my time there.

During my final year of high school we put on “Into the Woods”, an absolutely perfect musical by Stephen Sondheim. If you are not familiar with this play, I highly recommend that you get it into your life. It’s a delightful story with multiple fairy tales interwoven as one and tells the story of what happens after the happily ever after.

What does this have to do with vegan cooking? There are numerous references to food in this play. So many references to food, in fact, that I could ignore them no longer. I needed to get into the kitchen and bring them to life! In this series we are going to delve into the foods of “Into the Woods” (see what I did there?). Are you ready? Doesn’t matter—we’re doing this. (more…)