As a species, humans have been conscious omnivores for the greater part of 200,000 years. Being grateful for the food on your table is an innate capacity that shows respect, honor, and humbleness. These traits not only lead to a greater appreciation for the animal that gave its life for your own nutrition, but also serves as a direct connection to health of our land.

Being a conscious omnivore begins with selecting meat that was raised humanely, allowed to express natural behaviors, and consumed a diet that it was biologically intended to eat. When you purchase this quality of meat, you are casting a vote that incentivizes ranchers to do the right thing. It is a foundational step to supporting an agricultural system that provides consumers with nourishing food, animals with humane care, and when managed appropriately can positively impact the land on which we depend. This last point is of upmost importance and whether or not you agree that consuming meat is ethical, it is hard to ignore the importance of animal impact on the health of grassland ecosystems globally. Through the research of The Savory Institute and other environmental groups we are learning that healthy grasslands are one of the most effective ways to sequester carbon from the atmosphere and store it in the soil where it belongs. At large enough scale, this has the potential to significantly impact the effects of global climate change!

Because large herding animals can positively impact the planet, it is important to see them as special parts of our ecosystems. Not only do they provide us with some of most nourishing food in existence, they work towards enriching our landscapes and healing our soil. As a result, it is incredibly important to support a food system that can accomplish such a net positive. When you purchase high quality meat, you are voting with your dollars to put animals on pasture and receive the ecological benefits of positive animal impact.

EPIC is proud to partner with the Wanderlust Yoga Festival this year to introduce an enlightened meat snack to a conscious consumer. We understand that a default reaction within communities traditionally dominated by a vegetarian diet is to be skeptical of meat consumption. It doesn’t take much to become defensive and “shut down” when it comes to introducing new ideas. Let's have an honest dialogue and expand our understanding of what being a mindful consumer really means.

This mindfulness is programed into how we operate our company on a daily basis and also serves as a moral compass for our decisions on expanding the brand. As a result, we constantly strive to create products that enrich the lives of animals, the health of human consumers, and can regenerate the land on which we depend. Start being more mindful towards the meat that is on your plate. Compassion and respect for food is encoded deep into our genetic makeup and grounds us to this majestic planet.

Our friends over at Wanderlust are taking this important conversion to their community- check it out HERE. 

See you at the Wanderlust festivals! We will be attending Stratton (June 16-19, 2016), Aspen Snowmass (June 30-July 3, 2016) and Squaw Valley (July 14-17, 2016)