Chef Curtis Stone Takes Home ‘Heart of Stone’ Award

Celebrity chef Curtis Stone (aka “The Quiet Terminator”) recently proved that when it comes to compassion, his last name suits him well. The reality TV show star has won PETA Australia’s “Heart of Stone” award “for thinking more about money than about the suffering of animals by promoting eggs from chickens kept in battery cages, where they live in spaces so small they cannot even spread their wings.”

Stone recently began promoting “cage eggs” in his recipe series for the Australian grocery chain Coles because they are cheaper than organic or free-range eggs (the reference to cage eggs was removed from the recipes on Coles’ Web site after a public outcry). And this is not the first time that Stone has been the target of animal rights activists. The chef previously spurned the requests of animal rights advocates—including the late Golden Girls star Bea Arthur—to stop serving cruelly produced foie gras.

“Cage eggs” come from hens who have their sensitive beaks partially cut off—without being given any painkillers—and who are housed in filthy sheds containing row upon row of tiny, multitiered battery cages. Each cage holds several birds who are packed so tightly that their bodies are pressed firmly against each other. The wire-mesh cages cause painful foot and leg deformities, and hens are often forced to live in cages with the dead and decomposing bodies of their cage mates.

Curtis has proved that his heart is as hard as, well, stone, so it’s time to take action! Write to Stone here and tell him that instead of choosing eggs from chickens who are kept in conditions that most of us could never even imagine, people looking to stretch their grocery dollars should skip the eggs and choose healthy, humane, and cost-effective vegan foods like scrambled tofu or baked goods that are made with egg replacers such as applesauce or bananas.

Posted by Jason Baker