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Celebrity diners say no to Nobu

Restaurant's refusal to take endangered fish off menu condemned

By Martin Hickman, Consumer Affairs Correspondent

Celebrities including Alicia Silverstone, Stephen Fry and Sienna Miller have appealed to the restaurant chain Nobu to stop serving bluefin tuna because it is endangered

Rex Features

Celebrities including Alicia Silverstone, Stephen Fry and Sienna Miller have appealed to the restaurant chain Nobu to stop serving bluefin tuna because it is endangered

Protesting actors, pop stars, models and socialites have started a celebrity backlash against the A-list's favourite restaurant Nobu for selling an endangered fish.

Sienna Miller, Charlize Theron, Jemima Khan, Sting and his film producer wife Trudie Styler are among 31 signatories of a letter to the Japanese chef Nobu Matsuhisa appealing for him to remove bluefin tuna from his global restaurant empire so that they can "dine with a clear conscience".

The model Elle Macpherson and the actors Alicia Silverstone and Woody Harrelson are also supporting the protest, which follows news that Nobu refuses to stop serving bluefin – a fish on the brink of extinction in the Mediterranean. Instead, as The Independent reported last week, its two restaurants in London are advising diners to ask for an alternative.

"As customers and fans of Nobu we strongly feel that bluefin tuna must be completely removed from your menu due its perilous position as an extremely endangered animal," wrote the signatories, who also include the model Laura Bailey, the environmentalist Zac Goldsmith and television presenter Donna Air.

"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. Continuing to serve bluefin leaves Nobu both vulnerable to public criticism and lagging behind Moshi Moshi, Gordon Ramsay, Jamie Oliver and others."

The celebrities hint at a boycott: "We very much hope that you value our comments as customers and therefore that you will seriously consider our request; allowing us all to dine with a clear conscience." Stephen Fry, the actor and writer, said: "It is astounding lunacy to serve up endangered species for sushi. There's no justification for peddling extinction, yet that is exactly what Nobu is doing in restaurants around the world."

Kate Goldsmith, the Rothschild heiress, gathered support for the letter after she and her husband Ben Goldsmith watched a preview of a film about overfishing, The End of the Line.

The letter attracted the support of the casino heir Damian Aspinall and Vanisha Bhatia, the daughter of the billionaire steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal.

Mrs Goldsmith has not yet received a reply from Nobu.

In a statement, the 24-restaurant chain said: "Nobu Restaurants takes the issue of bluefin tuna and its environmentally threatened status very seriously and always has done.

"The consumption of this fish is a cultural institution in Japan and there is still an enormous demand for this delicacy at all our restaurants." It added that Greenpeace had asked for its bluefin dishes to be identified and was considering offering farmed Australian tuna as an alternative.

Charles Clover, author of the book The End of the Line who has campaigned against Nobu's sale of bluefin, said: "Nobu has made a fortune by sucking up to celebrities, and if celebrities turn their back on him because he's selling endangered species, more fool him."

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Comments

Clear Conscience?
[info]cunningtourist wrote:
Friday, 5 June 2009 at 04:28 am (UTC)
Maybe these slebs should stop using cocaine and jetsetting and wearing clothes that support child slavery instead of pointing the finger at others.
Re: Clear Conscience?
[info]andrea_2 wrote:
Friday, 5 June 2009 at 09:53 am (UTC)
I agree entirely. They jet around the planet more than anyone else and then try and lecture others on being enviromentally responsible. Hypocrites all of them.
[info]cm999 wrote:
Friday, 5 June 2009 at 07:18 am (UTC)
So we have an economic crisis, a political crisis, and expenses crisis and moves afoot to try and sort out the middle east. Why oh why is what restaurant some celebs are or arent going to anymore even being reported?
Tuna
[info]sandn09 wrote:
Friday, 5 June 2009 at 07:49 am (UTC)
It all goes to show! Way back in the 1960s FAO suggested that there was enough fish in the sea to give the World's population all the protein it needed. As a biologist I dared suggest that there were natural limits to the size of the catches that could be maintained - I was laughed at. Though I was laughed at i am not laughing now but happy to see that some people are at least trying to get Tuna off a posh restaurant's menu. A supplement to ELLE in April 2008 praised Parisian restaurants that were taking endangered fish off their menus and also drew attention to the fact that some English chefs had already taken endangered fish off their menus. Boycott slushi restaurants?
And yet...
[info]razygentry wrote:
Friday, 5 June 2009 at 08:14 am (UTC)

...they won't eat dog - of which there are billions!

There's just no pleasing some people!!!
Re: And yet...
[info]andy108 wrote:
Friday, 5 June 2009 at 07:39 pm (UTC)
idiot
hypocrites
[info]lee_ji_me wrote:
Friday, 5 June 2009 at 08:23 am (UTC)
oh my god, those celebrities are such bastards, they consume more than us on the whole planet put together - if this is their way of contributing then it is a laugh that leaves a very bad taste in the mouth
Mrs Goldsmith has not yet received a reply from Nobu
[info]kuma2000 wrote:
Friday, 5 June 2009 at 08:48 am (UTC)
We never received a reply from Nobu too, but we were just poor people protesting against being served made in USA budget supermarket quality green tea in what is claimed to be one of the best Japanese restaurants. If I ever go again I will take my own tea with me rather than drink the brown foul-tasting tea they dared to serve last time.
The sashimi was good and no I didn't have the blue fin tuna, but you can get better for less than half the price. Fortunately the lack of presence of Sting or other equally irritating second rate celebrity did not ruin our meal.
clebs
[info]ross_glory wrote:
Friday, 5 June 2009 at 02:20 pm (UTC)
since so many people only seem to care what celebrities say and do this kind of protest is very important, despite the clear hypocrisy, to highlight the catastrophic decline of the natural world.

and btw if the label 'hypocrite' doesn't apply to us all at some time, I'd be very surprised.
[info]preest wrote:
Saturday, 6 June 2009 at 10:08 am (UTC)
Looking at the related links, choosing to reject anything whatsoever offered by Mitsubishi might be a little more fruitful.

http://consumeractivist.independentminds.livejournal.com/6165.html

As for slebreteeees, the Indy says that "Offensive or abusive comments will be removed and your IP logged and may be used to prevent further submission".

I seems I had better keep my thoughts about vermin, parasites and hypocrisy to myself, since it seems my right to free speech is a little less free than that of "Bono" and the like.
Starting point
[info]rosiewoods wrote:
Sunday, 7 June 2009 at 10:58 pm (UTC)
Considering it takes 5000 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef maybe our well intentioned celebrities could broaden their enviironmental horizon just a bit more. The bluefin tuna fish is one among thousands of seriously endangered species! That said, maybe it makes them feel they are doing their bit to 'save the planet'!

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