My mind is pretty fungible (am I using that right?), so after I talked to Thiemann about the foie gras thing, I was a little more reassured that perhaps it is not excruciatingly cruel. He has been to the Sonoma farm and said the geese seemed happy. I think the really miserable part is maybe just the last 20 days or so. He used the old slippery slope argument, but I don't think that's really a danger.
Lots of stuff going on at Bows this weekend. I'll be the Friday and Saturday. There's an art opening Friday, and then on Saturday it's Knock Knock, Allen Clapp Orchestra, and Arts and Leisure
10 comments:
I am trying to not let my fear and hatred of geese influence my opinion of this issue. But they are assholes.
gbomb
The miserable part is indeed the last three weeks of the birds lives, and it's hypocritical for chefs who pride themselves on ethically sourced foods to make an exception for foie gras.
All major studies--the EU study, etc--note that ducks and geese who undergo gavage have major behavior aversions to the person who force feeds. And the birds also experience poor quality of life due to the gross enlargement of their livers during those 14 to 18 days before the slaughter. In most cases, they cannot walk or enjoy their "free range" end days.
And, as CHEFS has noted, there is no way to produce foie gras by hand feeding. You have to use gavage, and study after study has documented that this has a very cruel impact on the animal, even if you are gentle with the esophagus.
I don't want to be the guy who sides with the PETA freaks on this issue. And I get that there are a whole lot of other grossly unethical food practices that should be legislated instead. But I don't see a lot of wiggle room on foie gras, just a lot of chefs unwilling to part with a culinary tradition.
NM
My family had a couple of pet geese when I was kid. Bonnie & Clyde were nice for quite a while, and would even sit on ones lap quietly, but one day they just turned on us. We couldn't go outside without being charged & attacked. We gave them away to a rancher with a big pond.
My last comment was of course a response to g's noting the assholiness of geese.
Regarding foie gras (most of which, in the U.S., is from ducks, not geese), I just came across Sen. Burton's letter to Arnold urging approval of the bill. At the bottom of the page, there's a handwritten note in all caps that says, "SAVE DONALD DUCK. FU-- WOLFGANG PUCK." I'm not sure if Burton wrote it, 'cause he probably would have written out "fuck" instead of using dashes, but it's amusing that it's in the official Governor's Chaptered Bill File.
That's funny because Puck apparently supports the ban
NM
Even Sonoma Foie Gras supported the legislation at the time, maybe because of the 7-year delay until it took effect, and maybe also because it gave them immunity to lawsuits regarding the issue during that 7 years.
Okay, this discussion is now seeming too much like work to me, but that's my own fault.
This American Life had a podcast about a guy in Spain who can apparently make foie gras without gavage. It was on their Poultry Slam. He is like a mystical goose whisperer. However, his claim seemed a bit suspect and now we know that TAL doesn't always fact check scrupulously.
This is cool:
http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_barber_s_surprising_foie_gras_parable.html
At least foie isn't at Walgreens like sushi is. It really should be just a special treat. I dont like it hot either except in hush puppy form like at Hawks.
Funny such an assholish bird is a symbol of our exceedingly polite and friendly neighbors to the north.
I think Canadian geese are probably nicer, more polite and better educated than the dickhead white geese.
gbomb
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