Fox 5 This Morning

Fox 5 This Morning
WTTG (FOX) Washington D.C.
09/05/06 7:00-8:00AM

Anchor: Well it may not be something you want to think about right as you’re eating.

Anchor 2: But it is important to know where your food is coming from. Fox 5 Stacey Cohan is live at Agraria Restaurant in Northwest with more on this. Stacy good morning.

Stacey: Good morning. It’s been such a fun morning here to watch everybody cooking and this is Chef Ricky Moore and this hay that you’re putting in this chicken?

Chef Ricky Moore: Yes this is freshly mowed hay from the farm.

Stacey: Alright we got real hay going into this chicken and for all you meat eaters that think this looks mouthwatering, there is a new way to help carnivores feel animal friendly.

Reporter: Veal, often considered the pinnacle of cruel consumption by many animal lovers. Folks like Ellen Gray, who happens to co-own the DC restaurant, Equinox with her very carnivorous Chef husband Todd. So she began searching for a way to ease her vegetarian conscious while satisfying her meat-eating customers. The answer? Certified Humane meat.

Ellen Gray: They are raised and handled from cradle to grave in a humane standard that is approved by the ASPCA.

Reporter: To earn the certified humane label the farm must meet with a variety of humane care standards.

Ellen Gray: They’re not living in conditions that are so overcrowded that they can’t walk around, they can’t get access to light and air and such water.

Reporter: It may matter to Ellen, but do meat eaters really care about the lifestyles of their lunch? We decided to ask Jordan Goldstein, an architect who just happened to stop by for business.

Jordan Goldstein: It really doesn’t taste as good, I don’t think it’s something that I would venture for.

Reporter: So bring on the taste test. First Jordan does a blind testing of two chickens, one factory produced, the other certified humane.

Jordan Goldstein: I actually thought this one felt a little bit more interesting to me.

Reporter: Next, beef tenderloin.

Jordan Goldstein: I felt like this one had slightly different texture to me.

Reporter: Next up, that veal we saw earlier. Customer, Michael Chesman kindly gave up his seat to be our impromptu taste tester.

Michael Chesman: This one.

Reporter: Then Melanie Brasfield braved the lamb.

Melanie Brasfield: This one is very tender. You cut through it, it’s like butter. This one is a lot tougher.

Reporter: And even I took a taste of the eggs. It’s hard to tell, I’m gonna have to take another bite. And in every case we pick the animal friendly option.

Chef: He chose the certified human product.

Michael Chesman: It was clearly more flavorful.

Reporter: Certified humane?

Chef: That is [inaudible], that is certified humane.

Reporter: As long as it goes over easy with the Equinox customers we might just see more labels like this on menus around town, which is exactly what Ellen Gray wants.

Ellen Gray: I feel a lot better. I mean why, how could you not. And I’m not, like I said I’m not preaching that everybody should become a vegetarian, just be a carnivore with a conscious.