PETA Challenges Patrons of Kfar Vitkin Restaurant to ‘Give Peas a Chance’

PETA’s Table Napkins Call On Diners to Eat for Peace, Extend Nonviolence to All Living Beings

For Immediate Release:
October 27, 2015

Contact:
Catie Cryar 202-483-7382

The Humus Bar, owned by Kobi Tzafrir, is a special place of peace in central Israel. The restaurant announced that it is offering a new 50 percent discount to Jewish and Arab customers who agree to dine together—and PETA wants to take it a step further with a peace-promoting offer of its own: to provide the restaurant with pro-vegan, anti-violence napkins for every meal. The napkins, which feature an image of Jewish and Arab families sitting down to a friendly, animal-free meal, will remind people of all faiths to “give peas a chance” and that they can help end violence simply by taking the product of slaughter off their plates.

“Our napkins—which read, ‘Nonviolence Begins on Your Plate: Go Vegan,’ in Hebrew and Arabic—will remind customers how easy it is to get along with all living beings on the planet by wiping cruelty to animals from their diets,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “Those who have seen violence or suffered because of it can sometimes relate to who is on their plate.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—also points out that although animals killed for food appear different from us, they experience joy, pain, fear, love, and grief and value their lives, just as we do.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.

PETA’s letter to Humus Bar owner Kobi Tzafrir follows.

Kobi Tzafrir
Owner
The Humus Bar

Dear Mr. Tzafrir,

First, thank you for your wonderful efforts to foster peace and understanding.

I am writing on behalf of PETA and our more than 3 million members and supporters worldwide with an offer that we think will complement your admirable efforts in your community: Use our specially printed “Nonviolence Begins on Your Plate” napkins to remind patrons to “give peas a chance” by eating delicious vegan foods such as your famous hummus. By doing this, they can be kind not just to one another but also to other living beings who suffer greatly at human hands.

Our napkins could help customers wipe cruelty from their diet and bring a message of compassion to their dining experience. All people—including Jews, Christians, and Muslims—can promote nonviolence every time they sit down to eat by choosing meals that are free of the suffering inherent in meat, eggs, and dairy foods. We hope that anyone who has endured violence will empathize with the billions of animals who are abused and killed for food every year. Chickens, for example, are crammed by the tens of thousands into filthy sheds filled with ammonia fumes so strong that their eyes burn, and their wings are often broken when they’re thrown into crates for transport. Calves are taken away from their loving mothers within hours of birth, and fish are left to suffocate on the decks of fishing boats or are cut open while they’re still alive. All this pain and suffering is not civilized or necessary.

People of all faiths and those of no faith are increasingly rejecting the abuse inherent in food made from animals’ bodies and are choosing vegan meals instead. We hope that Humus Bar diners will soon be seen breaking bread together and wiping away the crumbs with our anti-violence napkins. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Tracy Reiman
Executive Vice President