Growing up in Vermont and New Hampshire, Tovar Cerulli was raised as an omnivore. At twenty, moved by the compassionate words of Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh and concerned about the ecological impacts of the meat industry, he became a vegetarian and then a vegan.
In his early thirties, Tovar returned to omnivory for health reasons. Two years later—searching for ethical, ecologically responsible ways to come to terms with his food—he became a deer hunter. In summer, he and his wife Catherine eat salads from their organic garden, topped with sautéed venison from the woods.

Tovar split his undergraduate years between Dartmouth College and the New School for Social Research in Manhattan, and has worked as a carpenter and freelance writer. An environmentalist, Tovar has also worked as a logger. In 2009, he was awarded a graduate school fellowship by UMass-Amherst, where he is currently enrolled as a Ph.D. student. His research is focused on food, hunting, and human relationships with nature.