CAIRO: International animal rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) distributed chili peppers to Egyptian passersby on Sunday in Cairo in an effort to promote vegetarianism in the country. Egyptian and foreign PETA and animal rights activists promoted the message “spice up your life: go vegetarian” by having a two-meter high pile of red and green chilies and handed out flyers explaining the benefits of vegetarianism. The noon demonstration grabbed Egyptians' attention despite the mounting heat, and people rushed to collect the chilies afterwards. The demonstration saw participation from local and foreigner alike and focused on explaining to the crowd the benefits of going vegetarian. “PETA is always trying to find interesting ways to spark discussions on vegetarianism,” said PETA Asia-Pacific Director Jason Baker. “Today's chili pepper pile made a lot of people curious, and as a result, people were interested to read our leaflets.” PETA Asia-Pacific covers the entire Asian continent, Pacific, Middle East and Africa. The crowd did seem intrigued by the demonstration and hammered the activists with questions. “They were mostly interested in knowing what we were promoting and were understanding of the health reasons to go vegetarian,” said Ahmed, an activist present at the demonstration. PETA's vegetarian campaign appeared to hit a cord with the crowd, as many complained about rising prices of meat and the general degradation of Egyptian health standards. “Many of [us] have viruses and illnesses nowadays more than ever and it must be in the food and water,” said Haj Ahmed, an onlooker, after the activists explained to him the goal of the event. As vegetarianism for non-health related reasons is a new concept for Egypt, and only a handful of Egyptians have adopted a plant-based diet, PETA felt that the result was encouraging. “Some people are perhaps contemplating vegetarianism for the first time because of today's event,” continued Baker. “It was all an effort to get to people to think about animals on factory farms and the cruelties they ensure; how eating meat affects their health and the damage it does to the environment. Seeing animal rights grow over the years in Egypt has been rather inspiring to all of us at PETA.” Knowing that the way to spread vegetarianism in the country is a long shot, especially to change the minds who say it is a western import is one of the difficulties in tackling such a topic. “Some people find outrageous but part of our job is to shake people up and even shock them in order to initiate discussion, debate, and of course, action,” said PETA Asia-Pacific Senior Campaigner Ashley Fruno, who had donned a red, black and white costume for the occasion with the campaign's title written in English and Arabic on her t-shirt. PETA is one of the largest animal rights organizations in the world with more than two million members and supporters, promoting not only vegetarianism, but stands firmly against animal testing, factory farms, clothing trade such as fur, silk and wool, and the use of animals in the entertainment industry. While sometimes criticized for its provocative campaigning and use of celebrities, PETA cares about results. “Our purpose is to stop animal suffering and we use all available opportunities to reach millions of people with powerful messages,” Fruno added. “We have found that people do pay more attention to our racier actions and we consider the public's attention to be extremely important.” BM
