PETA Asks British Theatre Not to Serve Pork During "Peppa Pig" Performances

Peppa Pig and friends arrive at the Marlowe Theatre tomorrow in Canterbury, England. While it's only a two day stay in the Kent theatre, PETA is asking the theatre not to traumatize children attending the performances, by serving Peppa as food in their restaurant. 

According to a report in The Telegraph, PETA(People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is not only asking directors at the Marlowe not to serve pork, bacon or any animal products in their restaurant, The Green Room, during the run of "Peppa Pig's Adventure" but for good as well. 

In an email sent to the directors, PETA's UK Director Elisa Allen states, 

"Many of the young children who will cheer for Peppa would be horrified to learn that sausages are made from pigs like her. 

Peppa shows others that she's not a piece of bacon or a ham sandwich but rather an individual with emotions and the ability to feel joy. What better way to honour the live show's message than by serving vegan meals?"

We respectfully urge you to honour the popular pig by taking animals off the menu during the run - or even better, for good.

We hope you'll agree to serve only plant-based meals during the Peppa Pig's Adventures run, and Peta would be happy to help by supplying your café with vegan ham or sausages for the opening show. They're tasty and high in protein. You may just find that visitor numbers increase when news of the change gets out. Interest in vegan living is at an all-time high, as more and more people are leaving animal-derived foods off their plates - for their health.

Your switch to a cruelty-free café would be a wonderful outcome for all these reasons, and your patrons would be able to enjoy meals with a clear conscience."

However, Marlowe director Paula Gillespie isn't going to taking meat off the menu. She states, 

"We respect Peta's point of view but we can't get ourselves tied up in knots with different things in our programme and how that might be reflected in the menu. It's about individual choice and we already offer good vegetarian options. What we want to do is give customers what they want otherwise we wouldn't be operating commercially. All our meat is supplied locally and responsibly from the Butcher of Brodgale and I believe is free range."

The Green Room Restaurant the Marlowe Theatre

To be fair, it's not exactly as if the Marlowe's restaurant is chock full of bacon and pork products. According to their menu, they offer two:

- Chicken, tarragon and bacon terrine with sweetcorn relish, watercress and toasted sourdough bread.

- Pork belly with sweet potato mash, purple sprouting broccoli and a sage-infused jus.

Now before we Americans start to question how terrine is considered a tasty dish, it should also be pointed out that the children's menu, which most if not all children attending the performances would be eating, has no pork or bacon products in it. The closest would be Spaghetti and meatballs which I assume are made from beef, not pork. 

While I do believe this is yet another example of an eye-rolling stunt by PETA(although tame considering their usual actions), I can see the point they're trying to make. It would be traumatizing for any child if they were told that they were eating Peppa Pig right after or before a performance of the show. But that would mean that parents would have to be the type of jerks to point that out. 

Now if the Marlowe was naming their dishes after "Mummy Pig", that's a different story altogether.