Melanie Eisemann, co-owner of an all female-owned butcher shop, was a vegetarian for over fifteen years. She intensely disagreed with factory farming and only after sustainable meat became available did she begin to incorporate it into her diet to support the movement. When she saw a growing demand for environmentally-safe meat products, she and two other women jumped at the opportunity to buy their own shop.

“Our selection is very different,” she says of her business, Avedano’s Holly Park Market, located in Bernal Heights. “In addition to paninis, we carry fine specialty imported items and local products, like our homemade jams.”

Eisemann, who grew up in Europe, says that she envisioned a neighborhood shop to be like the cheese and butcher shops and teahouses that she frequented in her childhood. But she also recognized the demand for more environmentally friendly methods.

All of the meat at Avedano’s is raised and slaughtered sustainably. If a fish is caught in the wild, it only has a one percent impact on the environment, Eisemann says. And it isn’t simply what is eaten that might affect the environment—how much is consumed matters immensely.

“Americans consume a lot,” she says. “Change might only come from eating less meat, demanding good meat, or paying more for quality.”

Because of a shift in the meat industry, chefs are becoming more aware of the quality of what they serve to consumers, which indirectly benefits the environment.

“Our clientele likes quality, and even vegetarians shop here for people who eat meat,” Eisemann says. “We promote better meat and are aware of where [it] comes from. You should know why you eat what you eat, and demand better food. The only reason grocery chains carry what they do is because of the demand for it.”