Adam mentioned the New York Times editorial support for Wolfgang Puck's decision to ban inhumanely-raised meat from his restaurants earlier today. I wrote a longer response to Wolfgang Puck's humane decision over at Megnut.... More

The Old Gray Lady's editorial board gets behind the stance Wolfgang Puck is taking on cruelty-free dining. For one thing, Mr. Puck’s new standard will help correct a misimpression. Many diners assume that most of the cruelty in factory farming lies in producing foie gras and veal. But Americans consume vastly more chicken, turkey, pork and beef than foie gras and veal, and most of the creatures those meats come from are raised in ways that are ethically and environmentally unsound. Until recently, most Americans have been appallingly ignorant of how their food is produced. That is changing. And Mr. Puck’s gift for showmanship will help advance Americans’ knowledge that they can eat well and do right all at the... More

It's a big deal when celebrity chefs turn their backs on foie gras, but Wolfgang Puck is going the extra mile by having all his businesses go cruelty-free: "He has directed his three companies, which together fed more than 10 million people in 2006, to buy eggs only from chickens not confined to small cages. Veal and pork will come from farms where animals are not confined in crates, and poultry meat will be bought from farmers using animal welfare standards higher than those put forth by the nation’s largest chicken and turkey producers. Mr. Puck has also vowed to use only seafood whose harvest does not endanger the environment or deplete stocks."... More

For their March edition of their Chef Talk series, Wine Spectator Online interviewed Thomas Keller of Napa's French Laundry and New York's Per Se, the only chef in the US to have two three-star Michelin restaurants. It's a great piece, covering his philosophy of wine at his restaurants, how his personal wine cellar is stocked (a Zinfandel man!), and the 20 guest room inn he's looking to open across the street from the French Laundry, but to me his thoughts on having choices made for you was the most interesting part: WS: What advice would you give to a diner who's intimidated by a large list like the ones at French Laundry and Per Se?TK: That's a real dilemma for... More

Chicago to get Joel Robuchon by the end of next year, maybe Alain Ducasse too? Ducasse currently runs ten restaurants (not counting his place in NYC, which is closed but reopening this spring) so it's not like he'd be moving to Chicago to work the kitchen, but this is still a pretty exciting rumor—Ducasse is the only chef in the world to have three restaurants with three Michelin stars each. [via Grub Street]... More

Yesterday we linked to Michael Ruhlman's response to Anthony Bourdain's Food Network rant, today we point you both to the return of serve from New York Magazine's Josh Ozersky in defense of Rachael Ray: "We don’t think this mandarin hauteur has any intellectual basis. Aside from the fact that it is unbecoming for a privileged and educated man to sneer at his own countrypeople, even by the standards of practical gastronomy his complaint doesn’t hold water. Rachael Ray and Sandra Lee are culinary lightweights, as they would be the first to admit, but they’re a product of — and engine for — people’s love for food. (...) For an amateur, taking tips from Rachael Ray is no less legitimate than... More

Florence Fabricant explains why over 300 people (including 80 chefs) flew into Monte Carlo from all over the world to spend this past weekend commemorating the 80th birthday of the chef Paul Bocuse in Celebrating the Ringmaster of the Restaurant Circus: "Before chefs had their own TV shows and million-dollar book deals, when today’s international obsession with chefs and restaurants was in its infancy, Mr. Bocuse was on the cover of Time magazine as the champion of nouvelle cuisine. People knew his name when they could name no one else who worked in a kitchen. "He made it possible for chefs to be respected international celebrities,” said the New York restaurateur Drew Nieporent. "And he made haute cuisine popular. His... More

Anthony Bourdain shares his thoughts on the Newer, Younger, More Male-Oriented, More Dumb-Ass Food Network over at Ruhlman's, a few choice bits excerpted here: On Mario Batali: "Oh, Mario! Oh great one! They shut down Molto Mario--only the smartest and best of the stand-up cooking shows." On Rachael Ray: "We KNOW she can’t cook. She shrewdly tells us so. So...what is she selling us? Really? She’s selling us satisfaction, the smug reassurance that mediocrity is quite enough." On Sandra Lee: "Pure evil." (His "IRON CHEF AMERICA match-ups I’d REALLY like to see" are pretty amazing, I'd watch them even on Pay Per View!) We've had a related question over in Talk for a few weeks, if you haven't chimed in... More