After All, Meat Wasn't the San Francisco Treat

The vegetarian activist group PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) recently sent San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee a letter requesting that the city change the name of its historic Tenderloin district to a less meaty moniker (like, say, the Tempeh District), reports the New York Times. Tempeh, a soy-based meat substitute often used in vegetarian cooking, is something the famously liberal city is well known for.

Lee and the other city leaders demurred, noting that the word “tenderloin” in the context of the district name refers not to cuts of meat but to graft. “Tenderloin” back in the day was a slang term for “payoff,” since the area of the city in question was notable for cops on the take.

One would think that, in that case, it would be the city fathers who would be eager to change the name…