Letters to the Editor
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Think Before You Eat
You know, the mudslinging on both sides here is really bizarre. Can the elitist food libertarians (including Bourdain and Ruhlman) and the ridiculous terrorists who want to stuff tubes down their throats all go away now? Pretty please?
I am a vegetarian for both ethical and environmental reasons, and my ethics are personal: I don't particularly care what you eat. But I also refuse, as much as possible, to participate in the inhumane treatment of animals, and I think it would be wise if we were all aware of how our food was produced. The fact is, if you treated your dog the way most pigs are treated, you would be in jail. And "cheap" food is terribly inefficient and is produced at a tremendous cost to the environment.
Think before you eat. That's all I'm suggesting. It's great to have passionate feelings on one side or the other, but let's bring a little reason to the debate, eh?
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For all the animal rights fanatics...
... who respond to any defence of foie gras with horrifically violent threats like, below:
"I think you should have a f****** funnel full of s*** shoved down your long neck. It should be the s*** of the geese that are forced to eat corn for your pleasure."
or
"You're a b****. Email me. I'll show you what it's like to have a pipe stuffed down your esophagus (sp?) until you can't take any more. ... when I see someone like you eating foie gras at a restaurant that I frequent, it's gonna be time to ask you to step outside. Try me."
Is it absolutely necessary to back up your concern for animals with a vicious hatred of humans?
You might find that people are more prepared to listen if you present your argument calmly and reasonably rather than threatening to torture and beat anyone who disagrees with you.
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torture and beat anyone who disagrees with you.
it seems to have worked so well, and so far without any penalty, for the rightists now ruling over us that I can understand why someone would be tempted to use the tactic. What they don't seem to get is that not just anybody is allowed to, only the "right" sort of people are entiled to chastise the unbelievers, the disobeddient and the uppitty.
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A am an animal, too! (Please protect me)
Please allow me to comment in an undirect way.
(I think that some of you who wrote about the importance of having freedom of food have summed up my own opinion pretty well).
But before animals activists get all excited about the (mis)treatment of ducks, perhaps they should take a look at the way another animal gets fed: humans.
How about tagging and insulting companies that force-feed us trans-fats, additives, and other cancerigenous ingredients.
You might argue that we are a lucky animal because we get to choose our food. Well, considering the availability of pure, untreated "real" food out there, I am not sure we are really free to choose.
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Anthony Bourdain is an idiot
The 'food police' are ruining America? Maybe he should get his nose out of his noodle bowl and see what is really happening in this country - politically, before he gets all hot and bothered that some people think animal torture is not a good way to feed human beings.
As for the 'vet' - well, I spent too many years arounds vets, vet schools and 4-H to know animal welfare is not their top priority - securing profits for big cattle and hog operations is.
I eat organic and free range meat but I think the world would be a better place if we were all vegetarians.
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Freedom to Chew
Anthony Bourdain and Michael Ruhlman are such brave outspoken heroes!!! They know better than anyone else that what Americans need now is more fattening expensive food. I think at a time when the world is waltzing delicately to Hell, it's important to force-feed ducks until their livers are about to burst and then devour them. Welcome to ancient Rome. Where's the vomitorium?
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foie gras is a human right
Animals are NOT the same as humans and do NOT have the same rights as humans.
All the anti-human hate in these letters has inspired me to go eat foie gras for dinner tonight!
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I want my world Peace!
Blah blah blah blah blah blah foie gras blah blah blah blah duck breast blah blah blah blah blah blah duck confit. Does anybody have the latest figures on how many soldiers and innocent civilians died in Iraq in the past week?
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Can't see past their own taste buds
Ludicrous ad-hominem attacks (look at what these animal rights people are capable of!) that ignore the issue at hand . . . stupid jokes . . . no actual dealing with the issue -- in short, a nice waste of 15 minutes on an otherwise beautiful fall morning.
"Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame." -- Philippians 3:19
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Whole Foods now bans Italian Prosciutto also
While we're on the subject- Whole foods has recently banned the sale of Imported Prosciutto on the basis that they cannot verify that the food supply chain for the Italian prosciutto pigs meets their standards. They are now selling an Iowa-made domestic prosciutto which, while decent, is not on par with Prosciutto de Parma.
This would not be so much of a problem if whole foods was not a "Category Killer". Shortly after a new branch opened in my neighborhood of Midtown Atlanta, two of our local specialty foods stores closed their doors, leaving Whole Foods as just about the only source of Prosciutto in town.
While Whole Foods intentions are noble, the effect is that in their quest for healthy food they have snuffed out an entire category of specialty food stores, and now are choosing not to support that market.
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You Can't Have It Both Ways
Anyone who criticizes the way foie gras is produced has got to stop eating meat, poultry, eggs and dairy that are produced on factory farms. Period. To not do so is to be a hypocrite. Period.
I took a few cooking classes in Tuscay two years ago. The chef who taught the class was kind of bemused by the fact that I, along with one or two other people in the class, was vegetarian. Although he didn't say it in so many words, I got the feeling that he thought it was "anti-life" to choose not to enjoy all foods. Of course, I imagine that farming practices, including the raising of animals for food, are quite different in a place like Tuscany, where the people seem to have an almost spiritual relationship with food.
I don't know that some of the dire predictions posted here will come to pass. I doubt that banning foie gras will lead to a diet of "food pellets" in the future. Still, I don't think that making certain foods illegal is the best way to accomplish anything. Education and regulation can go a long way here, while still preserving the right to choose.