Top chefs in Australia cook up plan to boycott GM dining
May 29, 2008
The head chef of one of Melbourne’s best-known restaurants has called on consumers to boycott establishments that don’t commit to being GM-free.
“I know it sounds scary … but unless a massive amount of people go against (GM), nothing is going to be done to stop it,” Geraud Fabre, head chef of the famous France-Soir restaurant, says.
“I don’t say it to get more customers, but I reckon … if people close their restaurants because there are no customers … it would make the Government realise they shouldn’t (allow genetically modified crops in Australia).”
Fabre is one of a number of top chefs nationally who have signed an anti-GM chefs’ charter designed to pressure state and federal governments to prevent the introduction of genetically engineered crops into Australia.
The GM-Free Chefs’ Charter, calls for strict labelling of GM foods. The chefs who sign up to it believe GM foods pose a risk to their clientele and the nation as a whole, it says.
“Because of the untested long-term risks associated with the growing and consumption of GM foods, we are strongly opposed to serving them — or ingredients derived from GM products — in our restaurants.”
Fabre, who first became concerned about GM crops about five years ago, said: “I reckon anybody with half a brain (knows) you shouldn’t be trying something that you don’t know the outcome of.”
Paul Wilson, Botanical restaurant’s chef-director, agreed. “There has not been enough testing on humans and there hasn’t been enough established research to prove it’s not harmful to us,” he said.
“We want to support (the campaign) … to separate ourselves from establishments that don’t care. We want people to know we do care about the health of our customers.”
May 29, 2008 at 11:10 am
Where we will end with all this chemistry.