Number 68 Project and animal abuse

It just so happened that I found out about a bunch of awesome-sounding, high-end food events at the same time: Number 68 Project, Sensorium, and Cochon 555. I'm not going to go into a comparison; I'm going to talk about why I'm not going to Number 68 Project. It's a bit of a story, but I'm going to lay all the details out for you here, so please bear with me.

When I heard of Number 68 Project, I looked at their website and was slightly taken aback by the manufactured exclusivity of it -- you can't just buy tickets to a particular night, you have to "request an invitation" by answering questions like "What is your idea of earthly happiness?" Okay, fine, they don't want just anybody, they want it to be a little more controlled. Seems a bit pretentious to me, but that's their prerogative. I looked at the chef lineup, and it seemed like maybe it would be a fun event, sort of like a salón with awesome food. I could dig it. I also noticed that Ellen Gray was listed as an advisor -- Ellen is the manager of Equinox, as well as being a noted animal rights activist.

I "requested" an invitation Friday, and hadn't yet checked my email Saturday when I saw a tweet by Number 68 Project. The tweet said: