Sunday, May 6, 2007

Wolfgang and the happy life

Wolfgang Puck, the superstar chef who runs the Spago restaurants and food company, has written a really impressive article in the May 7 Newsweek titled Changing Tastes: That veal calf may end up as wiener schnitzel, but one of our greatest chefs wants it to have a happy life first.

He mentions the obesity and diabetes problems that now need to be associated with the saturated fat in a meat rich diet, but his main concern is the animal cruelty issue. Regarding the fish and other animals used at his restaurants, he says "Yes, they'll be killed for food - but until then, they should have a nice stay on earth."
He goes on to promise "By the end of the year, all the chicken I buy, even for my Wolfgang Puck frozen pizzas, will have been raised cage-free. The veal on my Spago menu is now free-range. To make certain things stay above-board, I've hired someone who will police my purveyors. I want to ensure that everything labeled organic really is, and that no veal calf that finds its way into my kitchen lived its life chained inside a box."
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I think that this is an awesome development. A superstar member of the food industry saying "this is wrong and I won't do it anymore". I hope that he sets a trend which other chefs / restauranteurs follow. And that a world where this crap stops happening is eventually achieved.

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Annalise and I were at the Riverdale Farm in Cabbagetown today. We saw some cows and pigs with access to fresh air and sunlight.

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And we saw some lambs napping and caring for their babies and "baaaaing" and it was really nice. I have mixed feelings about zoos, but with factory farming so much on my mind these days, it is really encouraging to see these animals living something close to a natural life.

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