Chefs From Atlanta And New York Participate In Second Annual Pastured Poultry Week, June 10-16

Over 75 Restaurants Celebrate Humane, Sustainable and Pasture-Raised Poultry



Following the success of last year's inaugural event, this year's Pastured Poultry Week on Monday, June 10 - Sunday, June 16 is expanding to include over 25 chefs from New York along with over 50 Georgia-based chefs. Organized by Compassion in World Farming, a global organization working to end factory farming, and Georgians for Pastured Poultry (GPP), the event aims to help promote and celebrate humane and sustainable pasture-raised poultry.
"This week is about shining a spotlight on the virtues of pastured poultry," says Leah Garc�s, USA Director of Compassion in World Farming and lead founding member of GPP.
During the week, over 75 restaurants in Georgia and New York are serving pastured poultry on their menus to highlight the multiple benefits of pastured poultry, such as, the high welfare of the chickens and the positive impact on both human health and the environment, not to mention its superior taste. Participating restaurants in New York include Home Restaurant, Cookshop and Ted & Honey and Atlanta-area restaurants include Lure, Miller Union and No. 246.

Prominent supporters that have helped organize the event include Atlanta chef Shaun Doty of Bantam + Biddy and Chick-a-Biddy and leading New York chefs Jean-Georges Vongerichten of ABC Kitchen, John DeLucie of The Lion and restaurateur Andrew Tarlow of Marlow & Sons.

"We are proud to participate and help with this challenging movement in food," says Vongerichten, an award-winning and globally renowned chef. "ABC Kitchen has helped change the face of how we see food come to our table. We hope that the mission will continue to garner more attention and that more purveyors and farmers join the movement toward compassion in farming. We hope that it will mean more options for consumers and restaurants in the future."

"We want to inspire consumers and chefs to re-think chicken," adds Garc�s. "This is not your average supermarket bird; these are chickens raised on pasture with the sun above their heads and the ground beneath their feet. They are active, healthy and robust. Our participating chefs are helping us demonstrate that pastured poultry is better - for animals, for us and for the environment."
Doty, who has helped pioneer pastured poultry efforts, has also been leading the way in supporting the cause through his restaurants.

"We want to help make sure pasture-raised chicken is the next big food trend, not only because of the superior taste, but because of the humane and sustainable focus," says Doty. "Pastured Poultry Week is one way I can remain highly involved in informing consumers, businesses and government about the true costs of factory farming of meat chickens and the need to support more alternatives."
Chef Proprietor John DeLucie has also leading the way to support pastured poultry through his restaurant The Lion. "The first time I tasted true pastured chicken was when I was in Italy," says DeLucie. "It truly is a unique and different taste experience - both healthy and natural. This week will be a great opportunity for people who have never experienced the subtlety of this natural and delicious bird and we are pleased to be a part of it."

Will Harris, owner of White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, Ga., is providing pastured chickens to several of the restaurants participating in Pastured Poultry Week.
"Georgia is the largest producer of factory farmed chicken in the country, but the welfare of chickens is seriously compromised in factory farms due to close confinement, barren conditions and genetic selection for fast growth," explains Harris, a fourth-generation stockman whose farm is the largest USDA Certifi