PETA pinches Baltimore seafood restaurant with a salty billboard — again

Billboard war continues between Maryland seafood restaurant and PETA - The Washington Post
John Minadakis was on his way back from church last month, about to make the turn into the parking lot of his restaurant, when he saw the billboard. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals had erected the billboard, which seemed to be a glaring dig at the beloved restaurant known for its crab cakes — a mainstay of Maryland cuisine. Minadakis, who owns Jimmy’s Famous Seafood along with his brother, was shocked by the ad and its proximity to the restaurant. But that feeling wore off quickly, replaced by a plan to clap back. A couple of weeks later, in early March, the restaurant debuted its own pair of billboards in the same area: one with a crab cake that read “It’d be a sin to waste them,” and a second with a crab beside the phrase “They died to be enjoyed.” The billboard battle is the latest in a long-standing conflict between PETA and Jimmy’s Famous Seafood. Now, the seafood feud has found itself on a national stage — yet again. “Whenever they do something like this, it really feels like bullying,” Minadakis said. “It really feels like they’ve made this personal.” PETA’s billboard went up on Feb. 13 to encourage people “to keep fish off their plates during Lent and, for cod’s sake, throughout the rest of the year.” The organization said in a statement that it would be “potentially reigniting its feud with Jimmy’s Famous Seafood.” While that billboard, and others the nonprofit has purchased, might be “humorous or provocative,” it brings attention to serious issues, said PETA spokesperson Amber Canavan— in this case, the abuse crustaceans face in the seafood industry. “The fact that the restaurant is continually making fun of the suffering of these animals, while selling their torn apart and half-dead bodies, that also deserves a conversation,” she said. But the restaurant isn’t planning to back down. Minadakis said it is his family’s identity and livelihood. He and his brother took over the restaurant after their father, Dimitrios “Jimmy” Minadakis, a first-generation Greek immigrant who founded the business nearly five decades ago, died in 2003. Until about seven years ago, the Minadakis family lived in an apartment above the restaurant that has since been converted into an extension of its bar. When he was younger, John Minadakis would put his ear to the floor of the apartment to listen to Phil Collins songs playing from the restaurant’s jukebox. Sometimes late at night, he would sneak downstairs to make a sandwich in its kitchen. It’s those memories — the ones that make the restaurant feel like his home — that Minadakis has looked back on during the clashes with PETA. “It doesn’t feel like a fair fight,” Minadakis said. “Because we are a single restaurant. We’re not a chain.” The tension started back in 2018, when PETA put up one of its “I’m ME, Not MEAT” billboards near the restaurant. The campaign urged viewers to “choose humane foods.” The billboard near Jimmy’s Famous Seafood had a crab on it. It didn’t seem to be a coincidence. The one PETA placed across the street from Florida’s Miami Smokers, known for its pork offerings, had a pig on it. And in Buffalo, PETA’s signs had chickens on them, attempting to drive people away from Buffalo wings. When the billboard near Jimmy’s Famous Seafood went up in August 2018, Minadakis recalled feeling nervous at first. He’d heard about PETA’s campaigns against other restaurants and food brands across the country and felt the family business had become the organization’s next target. So soon after the ad went up, Jimmy’s responded with one that read: “SteaMEd crabs. Here to stay. Get Famous.” Since then, the feud has continued to heat up, Minadakis said. Just last year, PETA broadcast a video for fish rights outside the annual Maryland Seafood Festival, where Jimmy’s Famous Seafood was a vendor. The video featured actor Joaquin Phoenix “drowning” to recreate “the terror that fish experience in the last moments of their lives.” In a September news release announcing the video, PETA name-dropped Jimmy’s, saying the restaurant had a “history of mocking the animals they kill and serve as food.” PETA has long advocated against the abuse of marine animals in addition to land-based animals such as dogs, pigs and chickens. “We want people to think about fish as being individuals,” Canavan said. “Crabs and lobsters are individuals, too, and they do feel pain.” As part of its efforts to raise awareness about aquatic animals’ rights, PETA has investigated fisheries and processing plants, held anti-fishing protests across the United States and compiled recipes for vegan versions of seafood dishes on its website. Canavan noted that many marine species are in danger because of overfishing, coupled with the pressures of climate change. Maryland has seen its own decline in crabs. In July, the state Department of Natural Resources began enforcing new limits on fishing for male blue crabs, saying it was necessary for the conservation of the crustaceans. PETA’s billboard near the restaurant is expected to come down this week, spokesman David Perle told The Washington Post. But both the organization and Jimmy’s Famous Seafood said they have been planning their next offensives, stopping short of revealing what they are. Minadakis said he thinks PETA has “definitely underestimated the love that Marylanders have for crabs.” And when it comes to the billboard war: “We do have another phase, per se, planned, yes,” he said.