The Diner is Back!
The last time I heard about The Diner, it was in the bottom of a ravine in Europe somewhere, Spain, I think. My friend Sean, who was driving it all over Europe, apparently hadn’t worked out that when you’re towing a giant RV full of Jesus and other famous vegetarians throughout history, you need to ride the brakes a little harder than normal, and he wound up going over the edge of a cliff. Luckily, nobody was badly hurt, probably because Jesus was his co-pilot. Literally.
I’m not entirely sure how historically significant crash test dummies are, but its good to know that they are, in fact, vegetarian.
OK, so fast forward like five years. Now, just in time for Holy Week, The Diner, a controversial art exhibit—by political artist Greg Metz—that mimics ‘The Last Supper’ but replaces the disciples with famous vegetarians and shows the dark side of eating meat, is on a cross-country tour of the US. If you’ve never seen it, this thing is actually very cool, with likenesses of Sir Paul McCartney, Jesus, George Bernard Shaw, Louisa May Alcott, Leo Tolstoy, and other vegetarians on one side and graphic images of factory farms and slaughterhouses on the other. And it’s all housed in a 1955 Airstream RV. Pretty wild, huh?
As you can imagine, it’s getting lots of attention at every stop. Here’s a shot of PETA campaigner Mike Brazell, who has so far been successful at keeping it out of ravines. Have a good tour, Mike, and be safe . . .