Blessed Mary, Full of Condiments

I’m spending Easter morning having a delightful brunch & blogging session with Vivacious Gourmand. Of course we had to come to my favorite place. Perfect for delicious food, delightful ambiance and … THE BLOODY MARY BAR. Every weekend, Urban Farmer hosts a famous Bloody Mary Bar. $5 Bloodys, with a spectacular array of interesting potential condiments.

Urban Farmer (at The Nines hotel in downtown Portland) has a wonderful menu, sourced from local producers and assembled with great attention to detail.

My favorite part? I can eat meat here!

My heightened awareness about the commercial meat industry has caused me to want to be a vegetarian. Knee-jerk reaction. However, I believe (based on science) that human animals are omnivores. I thank the animal rights activists for drawing these inhumane conditions to my attention. But just as I can’t agree with them that there is no place for zoos in our society, I also can’t agree with them that humans shouldn’t eat meat.

Bears and monkeys are omnivores. I wouldn’t expect them to not eat other animals. Nor can we expect that of humans. But… and it’s a big but… I simply cannot tolerate supporting a commercial meat industry that treats the animals inhumanely. I was watching a trailer from a documentary-in-process made by a local animal rights activist. She was drawn to my attention because she is protesting Oregon Zoo housing elephants. I can’t agree with her on that point, but the rest of her documentary really opened my eyes and caused me to think long and hard about where my meat is coming from. I actually haven’t eaten meat since watching that.

So… back to Urban Farmer. They proudly advertise their local suppliers, and only choose farmers that maintain proper standards for sustainability and conditions for the animals. I’m so glad, because this was delicious:

Eggs Benedict, with shaved ham from Tails & Trotters

While we were here, Urban Farmer happened to be hosting their twice-annual uh-may-zing brunch buffet.

A buffet delicious enough to photograph

We met this charming photographer, Erin Berzel, who was photographing the buffet. If I’m not able to run the Hippie Chick Half on Mother’s Day, I’m totally coming back with my family for the brunch! Oh, and did I mention the Bloody Mary Bar has bacon swizzle sticks available? Local, humanely-produced bacon, of course.

This picture sums up my feelings about Urban Farmer:

Now THAT is a happy breakfast situation.

Cheers,
~Krista