Edible Zoo

The chocolate maker as a farmer

Within the next 3 years Josef Zotter will put his vision of an “Edible Zoo“ into practice. Following the motto “Live and let live“ the visitors of this sort of creative organic farm are given an opportunity to get to know old breeds of livestock. A surface of 26 hectares is provided to animals and human beings. On this territory you will find chickens on circus caravans and finally also a variety of delicious meat appetizers. The “Edible Zoo“ is supposed to re-establish a meaningful correlation between animals, meat and human beings. It aims at imparting experience, knowledge and respect beyond the meat packages which are sold at ridiculous prices in the supermarkets.

In view of the success of the Chocolate Theatre in Bergl we may already be curious about the Edible Zoo. Apart from the educational effect the visitors will not miss out on fun at Zotter – ideas are already pouring in.

Back to the roots...

Is not only the motto of Josef Zotter who spent his childhood in the countryside.  Back to the roots is the motto of the zoo as well. Josef Zotter intends to breathe new life into old breeds of livestock. This means that not the most profitable animals but for a turn those animals whose meat tastes the most delicious will be raised here. Numerous old breeds of livestock have completely disappeared from the market. And this is due to the delusion of having to squeeze another litre milk out of the cow.

The state of affairs

In Central Europe the share of food in household budgets decreased within the past 50 years from 40% to 10%. According to forecasts this downward tendency will increase further.
The most fundamental things are of great importance for Josef Zotter who has privately rejoiced in the mere existence of his highland cattle, goats and chickens for many years. This means showing appreciation for goods which is ultimately also reflected in the household budget. It is appalling to see how thoughtlessly some people devour their meal. Even though food is indispensable to life, it is mercilessly undervalued. Even in Austria 150,000 tons of food are directly thrown into the garbage. This is a wasteful use of resources. We should urgently attempt to treat food with more respect, especially with regard to the fact that some people do not have enough to eat. Eating should once again become the main focus our life. Because we eat at best three times per day while we take the ardently wished-for vacation only two or three times per year. Thus we would enjoy life better if we focussed on eating instead of wandering around in foreign countries. No doubt about the fact that we need some time-out, but we should allow us the same more often at home.

You are what you eat

the German philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach once said. So what does that make us today? Josef Zotter’s Edible Zoo is supposed to encourage the visitors to change their ideas. Can we tolerate intensive mass animal farming just because we turn a blind eye to it? According to the motto: “In any case I can’t see what a life the animal whose meat I buy at a cheap price in the supermarket has had.” If we would actually bear in mind that the animal whose meat we are buying is a living being and if we would deduct the 100 % trade margin, we could at least figure out how this animal has lived.

For Josef Zotter this means that if we decide to eat meat, we should only buy meat from free-range animals, preferably only twice a week, and show respect and appreciation for the animal and the farmer.

By the way the reduction of our consumption of meat would make a significant contribution to the maintenance of the ecological balance and an enormous contribution to the topic world famine. Because as we have already learned at school, the tenfold quantity of grain is required to obtain 1 kilo meat. Currently every European consumes an ecologic surface of 4.7 hectares, even though only 1.8 hectares are available worldwide per inhabitant. This is designated as the ecological footprint and it is clear at whose expense we trample on this earth: this concerns the so called southern countries. As a chocolate producer Josef Zotter frequently visits his cocoa farmers in the south and is therefore able to experience the impact of our consumption of meat firsthand. During his last visit his farmers who cultivate organic and fair trade products in harmony with nature told him that they do no longer find leaves and trees to build their houses in the traditional style. The surroundings have been cleared of all the trees to allow the cattle to graze.

For this reason it is nevertheless worth going on a journey in spite of the CO2 emission caused by it, because the effects of our behaviour are clearly visible in the south.
And as soon as we have finished the Edible Zoo, you will have an opportunity to see that things can also be done differently.

With this in mind: We cannot change the entire market economy, but we can change ourselves!