American Humane’s Gourmet Meat Fest
Six-course charity dinner features scallops, chicken, beef Wellington
Beef Wellington, as served to the guests at an American Humane Association VIP dinner
I had to double-check with Eric Fortney after seeing his post on This Dish Is Veg this morning. He’d written:
“Twelve notables involved with [the American Humane Association] the organization that touts itself as a bellwether in advancing protection for children, pets and farm animals, sat at an elegantly adorned table awaiting the arrival of delectable dishes that included fine dining favorites such as beef wellington.”
Really? One of the nation’s major humane organizations serving animals at their charity dinner? I e-mailed Fortney to be sure.
He e-mailed me back saying he’d seen it on TV on an episode of Hell’s Kitchen.
“I watched the episode last night on Fox,” he wrote. “They enjoyed a six-course meal that included scallops, chicken breast and beef wellington. They went all out and even prepared a press release prior to the episode to tout their delicious meal.”
I checked out the episode of Hell’s Kitchen myself. You can watch it here if you have a Dish Network account. Most of the show is just people racing around doing the cooking. But at the dinner itself there are just two tables: one for the American Humane Association, and the other for … wait for it … the American Cancer Society. (Isn’t the ACS supposed to be promoting the benefits of, at very least, a reduced-meat diet?)
Fortney quotes AHA President and CEO Robin Ganzert as saying:
“This was a truly special event for our organization; we’re so grateful that an ever-growing number of luminaries and leaders from across American culture are recognizing the critical importance of the work we do on behalf of society’s most vulnerable.”
AHA does not claim to be a vegetarian organization. (In fact, they’re in the business of offering “cruelty free”-type labels to certain meat producers who qualify and pay for the label.)
But this was a VIP charity dinner, heavily promoted, and televised on Fox TV. The AHA supposedly exists to promote kindness to animals, and the ACS to promote your good health.
“You just can’t make this stuff up,” Fortney said to me at the end of his e-mail.
So much for “no animals were harmed” in the making of this dinner.
What do you say? Regardless of your own personal lifestyle, do you think a humane organization that’s promoting the protection of all animals should be serving beef, chicken and scallops at its own VIP dinner? Let us know in a comment or on Facebook.