Yes, it is and good for them. Even baby steps are good, when they are in the right direction.

Annie

I think the comment "It's proven that consumers are willing to pay a little bit more for fairness, whether it's to humans or animals." is laughable. I don't know one person who goes to a particular restaurant (nor avoids one) because of cage-free. Taste, price and convenience are the top three and not necessarily in that order.

Although I think the action is good, I suspect the entire issue will be more likely to lose momentum rather than gain in the next few years but that's just my guess. Don't get me wrong, I hope I'm mistaken. But I still see people more concerned with the price of the holiday ham and turkey than asking how they were raised. Few even understand why some of those turkeys were "parts missing"! LOL

I think it's a move in the right direction.

Cynic, you must not live in the PNW. If you haven't watched Portlandia, check out one of their skits on the net. Nearly everyone I know (a fairly small sample) seeks out restaurants that source locally, serve a selection of organic and humanely raised, etc. Most I know don't go to fast food drive thru, but there are a number of restaurants in my community where you can buy simple, delicious, local and quickly prepared. And they are very well patronized. Most of the very well reviewed restaurants serve the kind of food we want to eat.

It's kind of like this: :-)

Here is a link that might be useful: Is it local?

I guess you don't really "know" me, but you kind of do. And I definitely do go to specific restaurants because they use local, humanely raised and cage free animals, and local products. If I am forced to buy grocery store eggs, I'll seek out the cage free ones, although I know that doesn't mean much more than they are crammed into a building rather than into a cage.

I have one small independent grocery in town and I drive a gas sucking Jeep that gets 15 miles per gallon at about $4 a gallon but I'll still drive an extra 20 miles to buy milk without the hormones and etc from a local organic dairy. I get cheese there too, although it is more expensive than that plastic stuff Kraft puts in packages.

I have a big organic garden although it's more work than a conventional one, and I raise grass fed beef although I make no money at it. I have 30 chickens now that I'm raising, cage free and soon to be pastured when they get a bit bigger and maybe it gets a bit warmer. They will be approximately the cost of grocery store chicken, and will be a lot more work since I'll be doing the feeding, watering, cleaning, plucking and cutting up myself.

So, I do my best to practice what I preach, and so you do kind of "know" someone who does. Many of my friends do that same things, although most won't clean chickens.

Annie

Funny, I did just that yesterday when I went into the city to have dinner with my bff. Her new favorite restaurant is organic, free range, local when available, humane, etc.

It gets rave reviews from foodies and my friend was very happy. It was good. My $15 hamburger sandwich on a brioche bun was overcooked and a bit dry. I found the experience interesting and was craning my neck to look at everything that came out of the kitchen.

Contrived is the word that's in my head.

If I thought that animals were really treated well, like Annie's, it would make more sense to me. But when you check the definition of free range, I dunno, they still all get dead--at an early age. That's worse to me than being more or less crowded.

And did we ever think that the critters who get antibiotics are happier, like maybe speed? joke, joke

The $10 glass of Merlot, sustainable, of course, was the best I've had in years.

I don't seek out these foods. Means little to me.

Perhaps I'm jaded by my ideas of kosher and non kosher fish, like salmon. I'm speaking out of ignorance, but dont kosher and trafe salmon come from the same ocean?

Westsider, would it be helpful to give you a Kosher 101 link? I wouldn't use the word 'jaded', I think 'ignorant' is more apropos here, LOL. All salmon and other fish with fins/scales are 'kosher' by definition, regardless of whether they are wild/farmed.

We also support restaurants like the chain Chipotle Mexican Grill who are working to serve sustainably/humanely raised foods. Chipotle is also building their restaurants to conform to 'Green' or LEED standards.

Here is a link that might be useful: Chipotle Mexican Grill

I like local, organic food because it tastes better. It's all about me.

The pink slime debacle and Temple Grandin made me finally sit up and think more about the meat I eat. I am willing to drive a bit farther and spend a bit more for meat now, although the cost of organic food puts it out of the reach of the average person. I don't buy a lot of meat anyway.

Well, good for Burger King. I never go to fast food restaurants, but if I did, I'd go there.

In 2017?? If a percentage of the eggs and pork are already cage-free, I don't understand why it is going to take them 5 years to completely switch. Even if they had not started at all yet, 5 years is ridiculous.

I am looking forward to More humanely raised animals and fowl. EVERY little bit helps!

Hi, Jessy. I don't know. I was raised in a kosher, orthodox home so I know kosher 101, it's kosher 322 I don't get. Around here, one grocery store sells fresh salmon in the fish department at say, $12 per pound. In the Kosher Korner of the same store, they sell 'kosher' salmon for $20 per pound. That's what I don't get.

I know shellfish, among other things, are not kosher, but kosher and trafe salmon? This store and the CRC doesn't think that salmon by definition is kosher. CRC is Chicago Rabbinic Council, iirc.

I was also taken aback by the 2017 date. I guess it takes time to enlarge their facilities to accommodate the "free range" livestock. I'm glad they're taking this baby step, but it's really up to the consumers. People eat so much of the stuff that they have been raising the meat to, well, meet demand.

Sally