Letters to the Editor
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I am no animal rights activist...
but I did stop eating meat several months ago due to ethical implications-- not only the cruel way the animals are treated, but also because of what factory farming has done to agriculture (factory farming being something that also must infuriate Bourdain).
However, I am troubled by the dismissal of animal rights activists' concerns over foie gras. In a moment of drama, I may declare gasoline fill-ups the delivery of "blood money." But whether we like it or not, gasoline is currently a necessary evil. Do we have to eat foie gras? Or is it a frill for the rich?
I'm not sure the production of foie gras amounts to "blood money," but it sure sounds troublesome. I've gone thirty-plus years without consuming a duck liver, and I could easily go thirty more. Oops-- my lower-middle-class Midwestern roots are showing.
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If anyone can demonstrate that foie gras can be produced without extreme cruelty then feel free to oppose the ban
of course they can't because it isn't. All food production should be subject to the same standard. It's pretty sick to believe otherwise actually. There may be cases where reasonable people can disagree about what constitues extrene cruelty. This isn't one of them.
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...
righteous people who want to ban everything because it might be unsafe get together with all the people who want to ban everything because it might be cruel, and the people who want to ban everything because it might be unhealthy. It's the perfect storm.
Get Schwartzenegger elected Governer of California... check
Ban any and all food that may be bad for you... check?
Now we just have to ban sex, do away with all violence and get the Governator elected President, and we really will turn this world into a bad Sylvestor Stallone movie...
By the way, Foie Gras, in small doses, is one of the most unbelievable things I've ever tasted.
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For Whom the Duck Quacks
It appears the ducks have had their revenge:
http://electricstorytime.blogspot.com/2006/05/for-whom-duck-quacks.html
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better meat
whenever I can afford it, I go to a local abattoir. The quality of meat there is better, animals are well taken cared for (water, food in pens, no stress noises), and the animals come from local sources (4-H, local farms).
By patronizing small abattoirs like my local one, you can make a difference for small farmers, the animals they raise for slaughter, as well as the quality of the food you eat.
If I may be permitted a Bourdain moment, I would recommend instead banning tofu. It has bad mouth feel, texture, taste (fore and after) and for me, sums up everything that is distasteful about vegetarian and vegan diets.
Vegetarian meals never achieve the same smoothness of flavor or spices. It takes animal proteins and fats to make spices and herbs round out to a pleasant complement to the meal. I have tried and failed for the past 20 years to find vegetarian food with the same mouth feel and spice characteristics as meat-based diet.
in the end however, like Anthony, I believe vegetarians have a right to make their own mistakes with food as much as any other group of people. Just don't force me to eat it.
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The Taste of Privilege
I think it's funny how Bourdain says,
"It's like an American tourist traveling around the world stopping over in different countries, and saying, "This is wrong and you should stop that -- because me and my privileged, well-fed, white friends in our comfortable shoes think so."
Isn't it *very* privileged, well-fed, white people who are eating foie gras? I'm reasonably privileged, well-fed, and white, and I can't afford it. So when I hear a report about geese *exploding* from being over-fed, I'm pretty likely to decide that very rich people can do without it.
These guys talk about the food that people have eaten for thousands of years, but the truth is that European eating habits have become more humane over time. A few centuries ago, many Europeans thought it was great to quickly cook and then serve a peacock while it was still alive, so that it would scream while you were cutting off slices of meat. Nice. Force-feeding geese seems to me like another food tradition that deserves to die.
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Want it so bad?
Force-feed your own fucking geese. Do you own dirty work.
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If 'cruelty' is the excuse for banning foie gras...
...then we need to ban 98% of all chicken, beef, and pork that's available in America. Factory farming can make the strongest of stomachs turn when a person views video footage of the slaughter houses.
Foie gras is only for the rich so who cares? Well, I can't afford the porterhouse at Peter Lugar's down the street, or even the aged steaks at my local high-end supermarket. So what? If I could afford it, I'd have a fridge stacked with them.
As far the the NYC trans fat thing - when they ban the sale of cigarettes and enforce a two drink maximum in bars 'to protect the public health', I'll take them seriously. In the meantime, get your laws off of my plate!
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tell em, tony!
man, this issue makes me sick. bourdain is absolutely correct. stop punishing artisinal business for some insane, PETA-commie, animals have more rights than people bullshit cause. its stuff like this that drives people into the welcoming arms of the big-tent, because being a red-stater is better than being a smug, tutle-neck wearing animal rights asshole.
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In the meantime, get your laws off of my plate
To equate laws prohibiting animal torture with laws requiring women to treat a fertilized egg as a human being seems like a stretch. You are right though that factory farms are exempt from anti cruelty requirements that apply elsewhere. This loophole should be closed and it can be at very reasonable cost.
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Learn something about animals
Seriously, most of the people posting in this thread act as if the closest he or she has been to a non domesticated animial is in a book or at the zoo.
If you don't like foie gras don't eat it, but stop acting the fool an taking a position that it's none of anyone elses concern if a women has an abortion, but then take the stance that you need to determine what other people eat.
The reason why foie gras works is because ducks, geese, and most migrating birds store energy in their livers for their migration. The naturally stuff themselves with food and their livers naturally swell in size.
Honestly, you have someone posting that you could cook a peacock and it would be alive. How does one respond to that? It's like if someone claimed the moon was actually cheese. It's so far removed from reality that there is no common ground. One would think that simple biological knowledege would lead one to conclude that cooked birds are not alive, but that doesn't seem to be the case here.
As to those who have gone 30 years without eating foie gras or that we don't have to eat it, we could all live on oatmeal and supplements, but we don't. Why, because we eat food that we find tasty, and foie gras is tasty.
You may or may not find it so, but that doesn't matter, because it's not your choice, and those trying to force their beliefs in food choices down the throats of others are no better than the crazy religious whackos who try to force their personal decisions on others.