I think I got this bag from a North London butcher. I was familiar with the ‘Support your local butcher’ design but hadn’t seen this design, and haven’t seen it since.

I’m not sure I actually like the illustration style, as it reminds me of feelings from childhood, watching scary and odd, usually Easter European cartoons that I think were meant for adults.

Sinister, wobbly and inconsistent character design that was unfamiliar to my minimal, mostly Disney and Warner Bros. experience.

There’s also a bit of Flight of Dragons in it, which I also remember watching with uncomfortable fascination rather than joy. Same for Terry Gilliams style.

Rediscovering this now, it makes me think of Felix Colgrave’s work, which conjures similar feelings as listed above, but, as an adult, in a way I find compelling and entertainingly fascinating!

I like how tastes change in us. A fact that makes me dubious of wholeheartedly adopting anything new and cool, but confident that all styles will rise and fall in popularity overtime.

Anyway, I kept it for all these feelings and fascinations, but also because of the crazy way that meat eaters often use anthropomorphised animals to sell meat products.

Here, the cow is the butcher, apparently preparing to slaughter its customers, or itself? Or is this from a world when the animals eat humans? Did the popularity of this butchers bag design fade due to its narrative of an animal rebelling being too uncomfortable for customers?

Judging by the recipes on the back, likely not.