baby steps are still steps i guess..Wolfgang Puck

[Guest guest]

Chef Wolfgang Puck Joins Natural-Food Movement

 

 

 

 

March 23, 2007 — By Reuters

 

LOS ANGELES -- Celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck has decided to be kinder to the

animals he cooks.

 

In an announcement made with the cooperation of the Humane Society of the United

States, Puck launched a program to bar animal cruelty from his $300

million-a-year business empire.

 

He said his restaurants would no longer serve foie gras, which involves the

force-feeding of geese and ducks, or use pork or calves that have been kept in

crates or use eggs from caged hens on his menus.

 

Puck removed the contentious food items from all his Wolfgang Puck restaurant

menus and pledged to use only certified, sustainable seafood, and all-natural or

organic chicken and turkey from progressive animal welfare-compliant farms.

 

Puck told Reuters that going natural was one goal easily within reach.

 

" We use organic vegetables already. We want to use humanely treated animals, and

we want to be responsible citizens. We want to look into children's nutrition

.... and sustainable seafood, and so on, " he said.

 

He said the naturally raised veal, pork and chicken tasted better, and the cost,

while as much as 5 percent higher, would be a small consideration for customers.

 

Puck's decision was praised by the Humane Society of the United States and the

animal advocacy group, Farm Sanctuary, which served as an adviser after years of

campaigning against Puck's restaurants.

 

" Our guests ... want to know where the food comes from and how the animals were

raised, " Puck said earlier in a statement.

 

" They want to eat healthy food in good conscience, and they know that we can

make healthy taste decisions, " he said.

 

The program will affect the company's 14 fine-dining group restaurants,

including his famed Beverly Hills restaurant Spago, and more than 80 Gourmet

Express casual restaurants and 43 venues across the United States, where 10

million customers ate in 2006.

 

Foie gras is the fatty liver of a duck or goose, which is produced by

force-feeding the animals through a tube and served as a luxury hors d'oeuvre.

 

Crated meats are those in which the animals are kept in small cages that prevent

movement or proper growth.

 

Source: Reuters

 

 

I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to

tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of war, corporations have been

enthroned, and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money

power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the

prejudices of the people until all the wealth is aggregated in a few hands and

the republic is destroyed. I feel, at this moment, more anxiety for the safety

of my country than ever before, even in the midst of war. God grant that my

suspicions may prove groundless. " Lincoln in a letter to Col. William F. Elkins

on November 21, 1864