Celebrity Chefs Honored For Chicken Campaigns

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:30:00 -0000

Celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall have received awards from the RSPCA for their work to improve animal welfare.

The pair received the honors at the charity’s AGM in London earlier this week after backing the RSPCA’s Freedom Foods scheme – an initiative that guarantees animals have been raised on farms that meet the charity’s standards. Both chefs released television programs earlier this year – Oliver’s Fowl Dinners and Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Chicken Run – revealing the conditions in which many chickens are farmed. Since then, the pair has continued to campaign for producers and retailers to adopt higher welfare standards… although at least one major supermarket chain in Britain has come out in direct opposition of their ideas.

Fearnley-Whittingstall, who was on hand to accept the award, thanked the RSPCA and insisted that the campaign must continue.

“We are delighted to present both Hugh and Jamie with these awards in recognition of their valuable ongoing work in this area," said Dr Marc Cooper, RSPCA senior farm animal scientist. “We look forward to carrying on our partnership with the chefs and hope that with their support, the revolution in raising chicken welfare standards throughout the UK will continue.”

A Recipe For Organic Living - Stars Feast For A Cause

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 12:01:58 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

It was a delectable night of weird and wonderful gastronomic delights when a group of celebrities were served a meal made from ingredients totally grown, plucked, picked, fished, harvested, collected, reaped, and gathered from in and around London late last week.

Over 400 guests, including Annie Lennox, Mick Jagger, Colin Firth, Jemima Khan, Richard E. Grant, Jamie Cullum, Sophie Dahl, and Sting’s wife Trudie Styler, gathered in Guildhall for the “Feast Of Albion”, an event masterminded by TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.

Money raised from the $2000-a-head evening, which included a performance from Lennox, went to the Soil Association, the UK’s leading environmental charity promoting sustainable, organic farming, and championing human health.

Guests were served a selection of unique dishes, including nettles picked from Hyde Park, wild fennel from the banks of Regent’s Canal in Hackney, organic beetroot from Romney Marsh, oysters from the Blackwater river in Essex, and venison from the Windsor Estate, with many of the ingredients being transported by bicycle up to 50 miles to the venue to reduce the event’s carbon footprint. The aim was to encourage supermarkets to stop flying out-of-season produce across the world and to promote locally grown foods.

“Organic farming enables poor farmers in developing countries to get into growing food for their families and communities in a way that’s genuinely sustainable,” said Lennox. “Eat organic, save the planet – it’s that simple.”

A live auction – which included items such as an environmentally friendly holiday at a Himalayan retreat – raised more than $600,000 for the Soil Association.

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Celebrity Chefs Honored For Chicken Campaigns

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