Eat like a caveman

On Sunday, April 27th, local Paleolithic diet advocates will host a dinner at Turquoise Cellars (5026 Cass Street, Pacific Beach) to demystify the so-called “Caveman Diet.”

The dinner includes keynote speeches from local whole-animal butchers The Heart & Trotter, Turquoise Cellars Chef Taylor Martin-Funk, and "Paleo" experts to accompany a primal, farm-to-table menu. Guests will be fed a lamb meatball upon arrival, and each of the five courses will be accompanied by Italian wine pairings selected by certified sommelier Rafael Peterson of Turquoise Cellars.

The Paleo diet focuses largely on fish, grass-fed meats, eggs, vegetables, fruit, roots, nuts, mushrooms, and pretty much anything else that would have been available to pre-agricultural hunters and gatherers.

However, the diet roundly excludes grains, dairy, legumes, potatoes, refined salt and sugar, and processed oils — or pretty much the majority of the modern diet. But Bare Bones Broth chef and owner Ryan Harvey, the guest chef at this event, says:

“Paleo represents much more than a set of rules for how to eat. It's a mindset and way of life. It's acknowledging the value of eating what's local and in season, not just for our body but for the purpose of sustainability. It's taking a minute to think about where our food comes from and how it gets on our plate. In our culture where seconds have become microseconds, we're more concerned about how quickly and conveniently we can eat so we can get on to the next thing, all the while disregarding the fact that what we eat sustains our existence — our ability to get on to that next thing. And we certainly don't take the time to ask where it came from, how it was produced and how it got to us. If we did, we'd most likely be appalled.”

Harvey, who also works with Pete’s Paleo (a meal drop-off service), will be using bones provided by The Heart & Trotter to create a lamb broth.

“Humans have been making and using broths for their healing and nutritional properties since ancient times,” say Harvey.

Turquoise Cellars Chef Taylor utilizes his degree in Nutritional Sciences from Johnston & Wales Culinary Program to create small, health-savvy dishes.

“I believe in adding diversity and a sense of adventure into meals while choosing more nutrient rich ingredients,” says Chef Taylor.

April’s spring-themed Paleo dinner includes:

1. Spring Salad — Shaved asparagus, beet, radish, shiso, pistachio crumble, strawberry gelee, lamb marrow vinaigrette
2. Braised Lamb Pho — Rillete of lamb, lamb broth, basil oil, fresh mint, sprouts
3. Lamb Sausage — Purple cabbage puree, granny smith, jicama, mint pesto
4. Lamb Porchetta Roulade — Brown butter, sweet potato, parsnip, hen of the woods, hazelnut and fig relish, lamb sauce,
5. Fennel Panna Cotta — Candied lamb bacon, pomegranate port reduction, wild fennel Italian wine pairings will accompany each course, specially selected by Sommelier Rafael Peterson.

The dinner runs from 5 to 9 p.m.. Tickets are $75 and are available online.

Peterson says the dinner is “an opportunity for us to pair up with a set of young, entrepreneurial-minded individuals who are incredibly passionate about what they do, such as the Heart and Trotter crew and Bare Bones Broth.”

The Heart & Trotter is a locally sourced, whole animal, grass-fed butchery. A venture of college friends James Holtslag and Trey Nichols, the Heart & Trotter recently announced their first official home in North Park (2855 El Cajon Blvd Suite #1 ) after debuting with a popup dinner at Alchemy last September.

“We are really excited to find a home in North Park, an area that’s on the forefront of San Diego's emerging culinary scene,” says Holtslag.

“We want to be a cutting edge culinary movement that sticks to the basics of a local, neighborhood butcher shop,” Nichols adds.

They aim to open up shop this summer.

In the meantime, you can order a monthly Butcher’s Stash meat subscription online.