The Onion, in its latest report on Fine Dining, has penned an unrestrained restaurant review of Cage, a factory farm to table restaurant in California’s wine country. Mason Kelflani, the owner and head chef, describes the dining experience at his St. Helena (Napa County) restaurant as “one that preserves the link between the food on the table and the industrial plants that make each animal’s short time on this earth a living hell.” The Onion, pushing its lampoonery to profound levels, notes that customers at Cage told Onion reporters that “they share Keflani’s principles and only consume animals that have been abused and clumsily slaughtered in and around their community.”
In its own unique way, The Onion’s satirical restaurant review of Cage shows how public consciousness is growing when it comes to mindful (or insane) food choices. Maria Rodale in her Organic Manifesto revealed the surprising detail that Monsanto’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Hugh Grant, chose to eat organic food (citing an interview of Mr. Grant by Kai Ryssdal, “Using Technology to Grow More Food,” Marketplace, America Public Media, August 20, 2008). Might we suggest that The Onion’s mythical chef/owner Mason Kelfani for his own restaurant eats is dining at Farmstead at Long Meadow Ranch, just down the road from his Cage in St. Helena, or perhaps one of the other farm to table restaurants listed in our California directory.
(Frank W. Barrie 11/26/13)
