meat is murder

Here’s an article from TreeHugger.com   which makes the economic argument for a vegetarian future. This idea of economics deciding the matter is gaining more and more ground with informed camapaigners arguing on the grounds of the financial knife-edge on which farmers live. Eventually these industries are going to become unsustainable even with subsidies and people will be forced to change due to what is sadly the greatest motivating force we have today - money.

Move To Ethanol Expected To Fuel Trend To More Vegetarianism

According to the Financial Times, a US Department of Agriculture Official came up just short of stating the obvious, per our post title:- “Keith Collins, chief economist at the US Department of Agriculture,” is quoted in FT as saying that “Feed prices are rising, so that pushes up the costs of poultry, hogs and cattle; and, therefore, a rancher is going to lower the size of his herd to keep costs down. In turn there is going to be less meat, which means prices are going to go up,…” Going on, the USDA representative stated that demand for biofuel feedstock “has contributed to the fall in global corn and wheat stockpiles to about 25-year lows relative to days of consumption”. And that’s not all. Corn sweetener, too ,is predetermined to go up in price, especially if bad weather and drought leads to a poor harvest. That means snack food prices could soar, amplifying the trend to eating healthier. Which will contribute to a reduction in the obesity rate. So, there you go. Stop complaining about the net energy transfer rate of ethanol. Gaia rules.

TV Chefs again not just happy to eat and cook corpses, but getting involved in promoting the meat industry.

TV chef Phil Vickery has launched a national recipe challenge on behalf of the British turkey industry. The campaign is set to encourage people to eat more turkey and to try different cooking methods, such as barbecuing.

Vickery, a regular on BBC2’s Ready Steady Cook and ITV’s This Morning, said: “Not many people think about turkey at this time of year – and they certainly don’t think about barbecuing. But hopefully we will get the message across that British turkey is not just for Christmas. It is extremely versatile and is a great, healthy choice for the family all year round.”

By the way, here is a previous quote from the fellow [source];

ITV’s This Morning chef, Phil Vickery said: “Although turkey is served on Christmas day I also like to roast a joint of beef in case some guests prefer beef (a lot of my family do, my father especially). If you roast a forerib of beef on Christmas day, then slices of cold beef are perfect for Boxing Day lunch. Failing that, a good old-fashioned roast beef and Yorkshire pudding on Boxing Day is a perfect way to entertain. The sight and cooking smells of a joint of beef when people arrive is a real joy, and one I love personally.”

The campaign brings together three sporting celebrities - rugby hero Matt Dawson, champion jockey Frankie Dettori and tennis star and TV presenter Annabel Croft – plus three TV chefs - Lesley Waters, Paul Rankin and Nick Nairn – and invites consumers to vote on which of them has created the best British turkey recipe.

British Turkey spokesperson, Kim Burgess, said: “We are also challenging consumers who think they can do better to send in their own original British turkey recipes.

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“The campaign will give us exposure all through the year and we are planning to compile the best recipes into a book with profits going to the children’s charity SPARKS.

“We have raised almost £25,000 for SPARKS over the last four years and we are hoping this will provide another boost to this wonderful charity.”

The recipe challenge will centre on turkey’s status as one of the 14 original “superfoods” identified by Dr Steven Pratt.

Burgess said: “Turkey is the only meat in the line-up and earns its place as one of the healthiest forms of protein on the planet.

“We will also be hammering home the message that British turkey is extremely versatile, easy to cook and, of course, tasty.

“Turkey manufacturers are developing a fast-growing range of portioned and convenience products with al fresco and barbecue eating in mind.

“And thanks to the great support from retailers and butchers, these are now widely available for consumers under our all-important Quality British Turkey mark. This guarantees the turkey from British producers is of the highest standard – which is a vital consideration for a growing number of consumers.”

Introduction

Turkeys are intensively reared for their meat. Traditionally, turkeys were mainly reared for the Christmas market but today they are produced throughout the year. Nearly 35 million turkeys were slaughtered in the UK in 1992, about 16½ million of which are for Christmas.

Given the opportunity, turkeys will range widely eating vegetation, seeds and grains. Wild turkeys can fly strongly and roost high in trees. They are more closely related to game birds such as pheasants and partridges than to chickens.

Turkey Production

Turkeys are generally kept either in large, windowless broiler sheds or in pole barns which are netted on one side and have natural light and ventilation. A small number of turkeys are produced free-range.

Broiler sheds contain flocks of around 10,000 birds housed on litter (usually wood shavings). Stocking density is high at around 260cm² per kg of bird and as the birds grow and approach slaughter age they become increasingly tightly packed. The litter is not changed during the turkeys time in the shed and so becomes increasingly covered in the birds faeces. Turkeys do not scratch around in the litter in the way that chickens will and this means the condition of the litter deteriorates more quickly. Artificial lighting and ventilation is carefully controlled. Lighting intensity is low to minimise aggression between birds.

Turkeys reared in pole barns are less densely stocked, stocking density being recommended as around 410cm² per kg of bird. Natural lighting combined with a large flock size and overcrowding encourages aggression and cannibalism and this can result in considerable losses. Because of this debeaking is widely regarded as essential and it is likely that all turkeys reared in pole barns are debeaked.

Pole barns are often not purpose built for rearing birds and bad ventilation, draughts, exposure and heat stress can all cause problems.

Turkeys are slaughtered at between 12 and 26 weeks, depending on the size of bird being produced. The natural lifespan of a turkey is around 10 years.

Welfare and Disease

Estimates for the numbers of turkeys which suffer debeaking vary between 20% and 80% and it is likely that the true figure lies somewhere between these. Debeaking is more common for turkeys kept in pole barns than those reared in broiler sheds where aggression can be minimised by dim lighting.

Debeaking involves slicing off about one-third of the beak with a red hot blade when the turkey is around five days old (breeders may be debeaked again at 14 to 18 weeks). This can be extremely painful for the bird and studies on debeaked chickens have shown pain to be prolonged and perhaps indefinite.

Even following debeaking intensively stocked turkeys may peck at one another. Eye injuries are a particular problem and can lead to infection and blindness.

Male turkeys may sometimes also be desnooded soon after hatching. The snood is the part of the turkey’s wattle arising from the forehead and lying over the upper beak. Desnooding may occur to reduce the risk of cannibalism in intensively stocked turkeys.

>Selective breeding for rapid weight gain and the use of high nutrient feed has meant that many turkeys, especially males, are unable to support their own weight. This can lead to problems of lameness and infections of leg and hip joints.

Lameness may also be the result of foot ulceration caused by turkeys having to stand on wet, dirty litter.

Other common diseases affecting intensively reared turkeys include colisepticaemia, blackhead (which damages the liver), turkey rhinotracheitis (TRT) and pasteurella infection which causes a commonly fatal respiratory disease. Turkeys are also often infected with salmonella which has implications for public health.

Mortality for turkeys is estimated at 7% or nearly 2 1/2 million birds. Many of these deaths are young birds unable to find feed and water points. These are called starve-outs.

Transport and Slaughter

The catching and transport of turkeys prior to slaughter can cause the birds considerable distress. Turkeys are considerably larger and stronger than chickens and can be nervous and easily frightened. Catchers are often less familiar with handling turkeys and many birds may be injured whilst being removed from sheds or barns and thrust into crates. Poor handling frequently results in bruising, skin grazing and broken blood vessels.

Transport to slaughter may be some distance and the birds may be exposed to extreme weather conditions.

On reaching the slaughterhouse, turkeys are removed from their crates and hung upside down in shackles on a moving line. Turkeys may legally hang shackled for up to six minutes before being stunned and this time is probably frequently exceeded. Turkeys can weigh anything from 5 to 28 kg (12 to 60 lbs) at slaughter and the pain caused to heavy birds whilst they hang in shackles must be considerable. This pain will be worsened by the fact that many of the birds and especially the larger ones will suffer from diseased hip joints.

Stunning involves the birds having their head and neck dragged through an electrically charged water bath. A study by the Agriculture & Food Research Council (AFRC) Institute of Food Research in Bristol found an incidence of 26% of pre-stun shocks which occurred when either birds wings trailed in the water bath before their heads or the ramp leading to the water bath became electrically charged.

Some birds may be stunned using hand-held stunners instead. These may be used in smaller slaughterhouses which specialise in Traditional Farm Fresh turkeys for the Christmas market (turkeys hung for up to 15 days without evisceration following slaughter). These stunners are less likely to induce cardiac arrest and so birds may be fully conscious when their necks are cut.

Following stunning, the birds have their throats cut before entering a scalding tank which loosens the feathers for plucking. The AFRC study found that 0.1% of birds were still alive on entering the scalding tank. This means around 35,000 turkeys enter the scalding tank alive each year.

Breeding Stock

Turkeys reared for meat are hatched from eggs laid by special breeding stock. Male breeders (called stags) have been selectively bred for size and are now too broad-breasted and heavy to mate naturally. Because of this turkey breeding is dependent on artificial insemination (AI). AI also means that turkeys can be reliably produced in the right numbers when required.

Breeding stock are kept in single sex pens. Males are kept in flocks of 30-50 birds at a stocking density of 1m² per bird. Hens are kept in larger flocks at a density of 345cm per kg of bird.

AI completely frustrates the natural mating instincts of turkeys and is distressing for both males and hens. Male turkeys are milked of semen at least once a week and the hens inseminated using a length of tubing inserted into the birds vagina.

Once the birds are past their peak of semen or egg production they are slaughtered and made into pies, pâtés and other processed foods.

Because of their large size lameness is a considerable problem in male breeding turkeys. Lameness often involves disease of the hip joints, called antitrochanteric degeneration. Studies have shown over 90% of male breeding turkeys suffering degenerative hip disease at slaughter and it is a major cause of mortality, lame turkeys often having to be culled.

A special beefburger recipe devised for the Guild of Q Butchers by celebrity chef Antony Worrall Thompson will soon be available to Q butchers throughout the UK to sell in their shops.

Guild members are now gearing up to make and promote the beefburger which contains a secret blend of spices, seasonings, chives and parsley selected by Worrall Thompson.

The promotion is backed up by posters, tray tickets and local publicity.

The burger has already won a gold medal in the Guild’s South of England BBQ Championships and is arriving just in time for this year’s barbecue season.

A Guild of Q spokesman said: “Through the auspices of member Joe Collier of Eastwoods of Berkhamsted, the Guild has a very good relationship with Antony and it is an indication of the standing of Q butchers that he has taken the time to come up with this special recipe.

“We now have an exclusive product for members to promote and we are sure consumers will look forward to sampling the AWT Burger.”

Joe Collier and David Smith of ingredient supplier Sauce It, who are corporate members of the Guild, liaised with Antony Worrall Thompson on the development of the burger recipe.

And of course this bloke - Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall - for promoting the idea that eating meat is some sort of kindly benevolent exercise as long as you do the murdering yourself.

“You can kill a lamb or a mutton wether at any time, but personally I favour late spring and late autumn. In the autumn I will kill either a mutton wether of around eighteen to twenty months or a large lamb of six to eight months, and in spring a wether of just over a year (once it’s had a couple of months of good grass).”

The blog ‘Hippy Shopper‘ is full of interesting articles (sample articles included, but there are lots more at the site) about ethical consumerism. The ethical approach taken however is one of human and animal welfare rather than animal liberation.
This is an important distinction to make because although the first article sampled is about Soy Silk, the editors are also happy to wear fair-trade silk. Not of course very fair to the silk worms.
There are also mentions of kinder wool farming. The obvious solution being  that if people didn’t buy wool, there would be no market and there would be no profit in breeding sheep into this abusive industry.

Soy Silk

When your byproduct is actually more beautiful than your main product, boy, have you got something. The garbage in this case is Soy Silk, a soft, lustrous and totally natural fiber, which dyes as nicely as Tussah and can be used alone or mixed with wool. Or leave it unspun and make delicate, strong paper or felt. [GT]

Mad Fish: Veggie-friendly shoes that don’t look it

If you’re of the Gothic persuasion, a rocker, biker or alternative bod of any sort the chances are you’ll have had the ‘leather dilemma’ at least once in your career; do you compromise your principles to wear the styles you love?

Fortunately, someone’s finally come up with the seemingly obvious solution of using veggie-friendly materials to create credible, streetwise footwear designs that work well with alternative gear and stand up well to the likes of New Rock, Demonia and Doc Marten.

The team behind Mad Fish have only been trading a couple of years, having become fed up with the lack of vegan and veggie footwear on offer to suit their own off-beat tastes, but their shoes are now gaining a cult following among the alternative crowd, and are definitely a name to watch.

Ethical footwear finds its feet

Mention “trainers” to your average green shopper, and you’ll more than likely be the lucky recipient of a gratis lecture on third world sweatshops, animal-derived materials and polluting production methods. And if that isn’t enough to shock you, the inflated markups on most well-known brands will.

So, how are you to combine your New Year’s exercise regime with that other resolution about ethical shopping? With the best will in the world, those veggie-leather Jesus sandals just aren’t going to cut it at the gym…

Fortunately for you (and your reputation), green footwear has quietly been shedding its beardy-weirdy image, and a number of hot designers are now offering stylish and practical trainers to rival the more familiar mass-produced ones. Leading the way is Worn Again, a UK-based design collective dedicated to making shoes from all sorts of materials, from car seats to reclaimed jeans. The website features a limited edition range of trainers made from firemen’s uniforms, so why not get yourself a pair of shoes that may have saved lives instead of ruining them?

Ivory Mobile: Worst Indulgence of 2006?

The Ivory Phone is one of six in the world. Carved from elephant ivory, and mammoth and camel bones, it is adorned with sixteen dragons and other icons indicating praise of Guangzhou China. $23,000 USD.

It’s one thing to have phones encrusted with diamonds, gold and platinum; we see them quite regularly at Shiny Shiny and feel a mix of bemusement and covetousness. It’s silly, but at least the bling can be recycled into something else - the diamonds plucked out and the metal melted down. However, using parts of an endangered creature to encase technology that is, realistically, obsolete before it is even assembled - mobile tech just moves that fast - is tantamount to selling McDodo Breakfast. Not to mention that you’d have to be really careful where you took it - international law requires you demonstrate your ivory is over 100 years old or it’s subject to seizure and destruction. [GT]

This is interesting magazine article (from Icon magazine) which talks about the book ‘The Pornography of Meat’. A book by a feminist and a vegetarian which discusses the advertising of meat in a male-dominated society.
 

On page 108 of The Pornography of Meat we encounter a photograph of the Turkey Hooker, a rather crude implement that looks like it was designed to facilitate the most gruesome of backstreet abortions. Of course, it’s actually designed to make your Christmas dinner more manoeuvrable: “an easy pick-up from plate to platter”, enthuses the packaging slogan. To add more force to the nudge and wink factor of the copy, a cartoon illustration of a large-breasted, stiletto-heeled turkey is posed alluringly to the side, above a rather graphic illustration of how the chef should penetrate her with his hook once she’s cooked. The Turkey Hooker combines precisely that mix of meat, marketing, pornography and implicit violence (against animals and women) that Carol J Adams is on to.

This is a book about sausages and “sausages”: the ones that are stuffed with pork and the ones that do the porking. It is populated by bunnies and Playboy bunnies, kittens and sex kittens, a couple of plates of “BIG ASS RIBS”, and plenty of breasts and thighs. But above all, it’s a sophisticated analysis of how advertising works. And naturally it attempts to tell us something about the male-dominated society that consumes all of the above. “How to enflame his ardour? Serve the man beef,” says the anonymous female author of an article from New Woman magazine and illustrated by a couple embracing in front of a butcher’s sausage counter.

Adams’ central argument is that just as the meat industry reduces animals to objects in order to make their slaughter more acceptable, so the pornography industry treats women as objects in order to make them equally consumable. And the advertising and marketing industries by taking advantage of these two super commodities, serve to spread this oppression of animals and women through society as a whole. So, an advertisement for Battered Halibut (”pre-browned for oven or deep-fry”) features a photograph of swimsuit-clad female sunbathers rather than a school of fish. And, in that it depersonalises its subjects, “body chopping”, a term used by the ad industry to describe images that display only a certain part of an individual, is only one step away from butchery. Adams has trawled America gathering the vast array of visual material collected here, and she’s very good at deconstructing it all. She wants us to understand how pornographers, butchers and advert designers work. She wants us to stop being entertained by the way they mask cruelty behind jokes (one incident we must not be amused by concerns a Fort Worth restaurant that during the Clinton presidency offered a “Hillary Dinner”: “two fat thighs, two small breasts and a left wing”), so that we can confront the problem. Or at least make graphic designers and copywriters think twice about what they do. Adams is a feminist and a vegetarian, and she definitely has an important point to make.

At times she gets a little carried away (she links “crush films” - in which female performers slowly crush small animals in their high-heeled shoes - to an advert for Kenneth Cole shoes that presents a loafer surrounded by cockroaches and invites purchasers to “choose your weapon”), but what makes this book worth reading is the fact that you don’t have to be a feminist or a vegetarian to get something out of it. That and the fact that it is profusely illustrated with some of the most titillating and shocking collection of illustrations - from menus and perfume adverts to chicken processing plants and bondage scenes - the meat and advertising industries can provide.

Leaving aside Adams’ suggestion that meat advertising, via its use of erotic imagery, is promoting a rather bizarre form of cannibalism, one of the more disturbing examples of how it reflects certain aspects of society at large occurs in an account of hunter Rex Perysan (borrowed from the Philadelphia Enquirer). Rex is pictured straddling a freshly shot boar and pulling its head back by the ears. Rex promised the photographer that he would “grab it like I grab my women”. This portrait certainly places a Penthouse advertisement for “Mammalia Americana”, a $5.95 pair of plastic novelty breasts mounted on a trophy board in a very sinister light.

The Pornography of Meat, Carol J Adams, Continuum, $24.95

Words: Mark Rappolt |
Mark Rappolt is senior editor of Contemporary magazine

From a less scientific and perhaps news based angle, this post is just a list of the reasons to find tv chefs despicable.
The way they pornographise the cooking and glazing and stuffing of pieces of corpses is a horror to watch. These are pieces of an individual’s body they urge us to salivate over. Often a member of a family group who will be missed. An intelligent animal that has been terrified and killed. Whilst they earn a fortune writing cookery books for the unimaginative to join in as participants of the mass murder that is the meat industry.

For cheap, tasty and environmentally friendly meat, look to the skies, says Jamie Oliver

Even though I grew up in the Essex countryside, I’d never been game-shooting until about four years ago. I was invited by my brother-in-law, who’s a pretty down-to-earth bloke, but I was a bit nervous, as I had this idea that shoots were just for flash people and the aristocracy, and that ordinary people didn’t get to do it.

I was amazed by the different kinds of people I met there - everyone from plumbers, farmers and builders to surgeons and even a group of JCB drivers! There couldn’t have been more of a mix of people, all passionate and knowledgeable about the sport of shooting and the flavour of a roast partridge.

Shoots should be, and generally are, held on carefully managed estates that buy in young birds, most often baby partridges and pheasants called ‘poults’, in the summer, and release them into their fields, woods and hedgerows.

Although they could fly away, the birds are fed regularly to encourage them to stay on the estate as they grow. They’re looked after by gamekeepers who keep an eye on them and any wild birds and control would-be predators. By the end of the summer the birds reach a good weight for eating, and the shooting season begins.

The first thing I realised when I went to a shoot is that they’re very well organised. Obviously, when there are loaded guns around there has to be a strict emphasis on safety, but there is also a lot of tradition and etiquette. In Britain in particular there’s a great history behind hunting and shooting compared with other countries.

The shoot organisers are often very specific about what to shoot. Shooting ‘easy’ birds is frowned upon because it’s not thought to be sporting, but they might ask you not to shoot pheasants if it’s too early for them, or woodcock if the numbers are low. Shoots I’ve been on have ranged from 90- to 250-bird days with eight guns. If that sounds like a lot, remember that in the average poultry abattoir 200 birds are slaughtered every few minutes. I’ve heard people say they think shooting is cruel, as sometimes the birds aren’t killed outright, but many more commercially farmed birds are killed without stunning in abattoirs if their necks are too short to reach the electric water bath. If I were a bird, I know which way I’d rather go.

At the end of the shoot you normally get a brace of birds to take home, and the option to buy a few more. The beaters - the people who drive the birds out of their cover towards the guns - are normally paid a set amount for their day’s work and get a pick of the birds, too. The rest goes to game dealers who supply butchers, farmer’s markets and even supermarkets in the area. So a great deal of the money raised through shoots goes into the local economy. A recent government audit has shown that the game business supports 70,000 jobs and is worth £1.6 billion a year.

Shoots have also helped the topography of the countryside to stay as it is for many hundreds of years, as it’s in the interests of the estate owners to look after their woods and the hedgerows where the birds like to live. Generally, I find the people involved in the sport very aware of the environment. Few other sports can claim this, and I think it’s one of the best things about shooting.

My favourite thing, though, is the game itself. It’s a brilliant source of quality meat with plenty of vitamins and nutrients, most of it is incredibly cheap when bought close to source - and it is absolutely delicious. It’s a common misconception that game is very strong-tasting, but it doesn’t have to be.

It’s true that some people like to hang it without gutting before they eat it, but you don’t have to and, if you don’t, it’s actually pretty mild in flavour. A partridge tastes no stronger than the leg meat on an organic chicken and, if I cook the rabbit I shoot in my garden, my wife and kids think it’s the best-ever chicken. Not a word please…

Some people may not like the idea of shooting, but as a keen meat-eater who has a great respect for animals and nature, I have nothing but positive things to say about it. It’s a great day out and I’ve met lots of interesting people doing it.

The game season in Britain lasts until the end of January, so you have a month left to try out these recipes. If you’re lucky enough to get a place on a shoot, you won’t have to worry about getting hold of your birds, and if you’re not, call in at your local butcher or farmer’s market and see what’s around.

Get stuck in, and watch out for lead shot - game may be cheap but dentists aren’t!

Lamb to the slaughter on Jamie’s Great Escape

Jamie Oliver hit the headlines when he was seen slaughtering a lamb during the filming of Jamie’s Great Escape.
Some viewers complained to Channel 4 claiming the killing was ‘barbarous’ and should not have been broadcast before the 9pm watershed.
Jamie himself was close to tears during the killing and afterwards admitted it was ‘pretty emotional - pretty hard-core’.

Britain’s favourite chef was shown holding a knife to the lamb’s throat and hesitating before killing the animal.
He said on the show;’It’s a beautiful creature, but it is tasty and we are top of the food chain. If that offends you, you shouldn’t eat it. A chef who has cooked 2,000 sheep should kill at least one, otherwise you’re a fake.’
The programme featured Jamie staying with a family of farmers and hunters in Le Marche region of Italy. Not only did he kill the lamb for a family feast – but he was seen trying to shoot, but missing a wild boar while on a hunting trip. It later showed a three year old girl joining in as the family skinned and gutted the wild boar into her paddling pool.

Some critics felt that the killing, the way many lambs are killed in rural Italy, was inhumane as the animal was still conscious.
In the UK animals must be killed on licensed premises and must first be stunned - normally with a bolt to the head.
However both the Jewish and Muslim faiths are exempt from this law because their religions demand animals are killed with a single cut to the throat.
Others felt that the footage should not have been shown at a time when young children could possibly have been watching.
A spokesman for Jamie said: ‘When put on the spot, Jamie felt that to kill one lamb out of the thousands that he has already cooked was an honest and important experience. It wasn’t the easiest thing for him to do as you can see from the footage.
The method of killing the lamb was one not out of the ordinary in rural Italy and one considered humane by all present.
Jamie feels that the piece is an honest and powerful account of how meat is respected in Italy. Italians consider animal welfare of the utmost importance. A large percentage of animals are reared organically rather than by battery methods.
The hunters of the La Marche region have a much purer notion of the relationship between animals and meat than, say, a person who buys beef burgers on a weekly basis, without any consideration for how the animal in the products was raised or by the way in which they were killed.”

A Channel 4 spokesman added: ‘We were aware of the sensitivity of the scene and ensured that it was clearly flagged to viewers immediately before the start of the programme.
It was a difficult scene but one which was relevant in the context and important to include in the programme.’

Ramsay’s pizza joke outrages vegetarians
By Roya Nikkhah

Gordon Ramsay, a chef almost as famous for his four-letter outbursts in the kitchen as for his food, has sparked outrage after feeding meat to a vegetarian in his new television show.

The programme was filmed for the second series of Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, which will be broadcast later this month on Channel 4.

In the first episode, which coincidentally will be shown during National Vegetarian Week, Ramsay invites passers-by to sample pizzas at La Lanterna, a struggling Italian -restaurant in Letchworth, Hertfordshire.

One of the volunteers who agrees to take part says that he has been a vegetarian for eight years. Ramsay replies that the restaurant’s chefs have prepared a vegetarian pizza and gives him one to try. After the volunteer - identified only as “Bob” - has eaten the pizza, Ramsay tells him: “Unfortunately, that pizza has got a lot of mozzarella and tomatoes, but underneath all that there is parma ham.”

The vegetarian complains to Ramsay that he has played a “mean” trick on him, but Ramsay jokes that he “hasn’t come out in a big rash”. He is then filmed laughing at the man and asking him if he would like some more, while telling the restaurant’s chefs that they have “converted a vegetarian”. As the volunteer hurries out of the restaurant, Ramsay calls out after him, “Good luck with the Vegemite!”

The incident has infuriated vegetarians, who have denounced Ramsay’s actions as offensive and unethical. Tina Fox, the chief executive of the Vegetarian Society, said: “I am amazed that Gordon Ramsay can find the discomfort of a fellow human being so amusing.
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“It can be deeply upsetting for vegetarians to find they have eaten any part of an animal in error. Would Gordon find it equally amusing if an anaphylactic customer died at the table due to eating nuts?”

Rose Elliot, the award-winning vegetarian food writer, called Ramsay’s behaviour “outrageous” and said that she would no longer visit his restaurants.

Dave Spikey, the actor who stars in Channel 4’s comedy series Phoenix Nights, who has been a vegetarian for more than 20 years, said: “I find it extraordinary that anyone could have so little respect and regard for other people’s sincerely held moral beliefs and ethical choices.”

Leading chefs were also critical. Tom Aikens, the chef-patron of the eponymous restaurant in Chelsea, said: “People often choose to be vegetarians for serious dietary or religious reasons. To feed them meat is unnecessary, unkind and certainly not funny.”

Heston Blumenthal, the owner of the Fat Duck restaurant in Bray, said: “If someone decides not to eat meat they have made that decision for a reason and it should be respected.”

Alex Scott, the owner and head chef at La Lanterna, said that the vegetarian in question appeared distressed after the incident: “I did feel a bit sorry for the guy as he ran out of the restaurant looking very sick and pale. Gordon fell about laughing and I think it made his night, as he’s not known for his liking of -vegetarians. I think Gordon just forgot to tell him the pizza had parma ham in it, but he definitely knew because he oversaw us making it and discussed the ingredients with us.”

A Channel 4 spokesman said: “We believe this was a genuine mistake and that Gordon Ramsay did not deliberately set out to give meat to a vegetarian.”

In an interview to promote the BBC’s Comic Relief programme in 2003, Ramsay was asked what had been his most recent lie, to which he replied: “To a table of vegetarians who had artichoke soup. I told them it was made with vegetable stock when it was chicken stock.”

Foie Gras, Veal and killing your own pigs

Sponsor of Gordon Ramsay’s latest series of ‘The F-Word’ on Channel 4’s digital channel More4, Tio Pepe has produced an ad at the start of the programme with the slogan ‘Foie Gras without Tio Pepe?’ The implication is that you cannot consume one without the other. Animal Defenders International, which has waged a campaign to extend prohibition on force-feeding across Europe, has condemned the inappropriate ad.

Jan Creamer, chief executive of ADI said: “I have witnessed this appalling cruelty. ADI carried out an investigation into the production of foie gras and the findings were horrendous. To produce this ‘delicacy’ up to 6lbs of ground maize is forced down the throats of geese and ducks over two or three weeks. The bird’s liver becomes so enlarged it can weigh up to 1,300 grammes when a normal liver weighs around 120 grammes. ADI is calling on Gordon Ramsay to dissociate himself with such unspeakable practices and to encourage his fellow chefs to do the same.”

The European Union’s Scientific Committee on Animal Welfare has concluded that force-feeding is detrimental to the welfare of the birds. Force-feeding is banned in Poland, Austria, Denmark, Germany and Norway. Legislation in the UK and in Switzerland is interpreted as a ban on force-feeding.

In the programme, ‘The F-Word’ amateur chefs are challenged to cook in Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant kitchen and the food prepared is judged by the people eating in the restaurant. If they don’t enjoy the meal then they do not have to pay. There are often celebrity guests invited to cook a meal and sample the food such as Dermot O’Leary and Jonathon Ross.

Gordon Ramsay has already been the subject of much controversy this year regarding animal welfare for slaughtering his two pigs ‘Trinny’ and Suzanna’ on TV and making them into sausages in his restaurant. He also promoted veal consumption on television with the aide of fellow celebrity Janet Street Porter. In October, Gordon was injured while taking up the cruel sport of bull fighting in Spain when filming his show, then told of how his private parts had been bruised.