As it turns out, Hazon is not alone in slaughtering animals in a public way to help people get a sense of where their meat comes from – and where it might come from if meat production was signficantly more humane and responsible.

An New York Times article today by Julia Moskin, “Chef’s New Goal: Looking Dinner in the Eye, features British chef Jaime Oliver (as well as American chefs Dan Barber, Tamara Murphy and others), going to great lengths to educate themselves – and their customers – about the meat industry.  Moskin writes:

LAST Friday, in front of 4 million television viewers and a studio audience, the chef Jamie Oliver killed a chicken. Having recently obtained a United Kingdom slaughterman’s license, Mr. Oliver staged a “gala dinner,” in fact a kind of avian snuff film, to awaken British consumers to the high costs of cheap chicken.

“A chicken is a living thing, an animal with a life cycle, and we shouldn’t expect it will cost less than a pint of beer in a pub,” he said Monday in an interview.

This article further proves my point that our friends across-the-pond are up to some interesting and worthwhile sustainable food endeavors.  It also makes us at Hazon slightly jealous that Mr. Oliver et. al can just do everything themselves, without having to jump through the – wortwhile but onerous - logistical hoops of finding a schochet (kosher slaughterer) and mashgiach, (kashrut supervisor) on top of finding sustainably raised and well-cared for animals.

Ultimately, I find it very encouraging that high-profile and publicly revered chefs are joining in on the food awareness campaign, and beginning to make real changes in their kitchens.