Celebrities Tell DeNiro’s Nobu Restaurant To Drop The Bluefin Tuna
Filed under: animals, campaigns, food & drink — Michael d'Estries @ 1:15 pm
June 8th 2009
The controversy surrounding the popular Nobu’s sushi restaurant chain (co-owned by Robert DeNiro) continues to grow. Last September, Greenpeace threw the opening shot after it discovered endangered bluefin tuna on the menu. Weeks later, Nobu answered the charges — not by removing the tuna — but by adding a moronic warnings to their menus that the fish people were about to eat was endangered. Not quite the action Greenpeace was looking for.
Now, in conjunction with the new documentary The End of The Line, celebrities are signing a petition to raise the heat on Nobu’s management and hopefully get the bluefin removed permanently. Elle Macpherson, Sienna Miller, Alicia Silverstone, Charlize Theron, Sting and Trudie Styler, Ted Danson, Woody Harrelson and Stephen Fry are among the 31 famous folks who have signed a petition vowing not to patronize Nobu London until it stops serving the near-extinct tuna. From their statement:
“As customers and fans of Nobu we strongly feel that bluefin tuna must be completely removed from your menu due to its perilous position as an extremely endangered animal. Nobu is a restaurant we all love, a world leader in sushi with a fantastic reputation and enormous influence. If Nobu took a definitive stand on this issue it could make a critical difference.”
Nobu is not one to take celebrity criticism of its establishment lightly. The restaurant is a haven for the rich and famous — so such involvement from Hollywood in the matter will certainly make a difference. The only question is: Will they choose protecting a species of fish over tastebuds? Japanese chefs consider bluefin to be the tastiest of all tuna — hence it’s popularity in sushi restaurants. Having Nobu take the lead on dropping bluefin could potentially lead to others following its lead.
We’re just waiting for DeNiro to stop wussing out and do the right thing. That’s right, we’re talking to you.
I ate once at Malibu location and once in Miami (and their vegan choices weren’t great, it was overpriced, and I didn’t care that I was rubbing elbows literally with celebs (it’s crowded – you do bump arms from time to time seriously) I won’t be back and would rather support raw vegan ORGANIC places which deserve the business!
Erin
Sienna Miller would support anything and anybody to get her name in the papers. I think the rest of them would be serious though.
Now we’ll see what counts more to them… money and status or the planet!
What a difficult choice to make!!!
“Japanese chefs consider bluefin to be the tastiest of all tuna — hence it’s popularity in sushi restaurants.”
What, is the palate of these people so sensitive that they can’t eat another kind of tuna?
It’s just food for cryin’ out loud! So what if it doesn’t taste as good as the bluefin tuna? It’s better than to contribute to wipe out the bluefin tuna!
What’s wrong with people!?