@ehBeth,
Quote:and that's why a smart consumer wants to know where their food comes from if at all possible
Lets not get crazy and make everything we put into our mouths a political/moral dilemma, I have better things to do with my limited time and energy, but I do try to buy my meat and dairy from farmers and corporations who seem to be trying to be responsible. Likewise I try not to go to restaurants that look dirty or where the employees act unprofessionally. I rarely know where the Foie gras in the restaurants come from, but for my freezer I use Hudson Valley.
Quote:At most Foie Gras Farms in the world, ducks are housed in individual cages for the sake of efficiency. At Hudson Valley Foie Gras we believe in providing conditions which allow for social interaction, exercise, freedom of movement, and reduction of stress. For this reason, our ducks are maintained cage free
The essence of farming is caring for animals. At Hudson Valley Foie Gras, the premier producer of foie gras in America, this is especially true. Our many years of experience have taught us that respect for our people, environmental stewardship and the care of our animals are the keys to producing the quality products chefs and cooking aficionados expect from Hudson Valley Foie Gras.
Small numbers of specially bred ducks are individually hand fed to produce our unique, signature foie gras. Our trained caretakers spend as much as four times as much time caring for each animal as is the case in other foie gras farms. We believe our special care results in a wonderful product.
http://www.hudsonvalleyfoiegras.com/index.php/why-cage-free
I feel a little sheepish though, and kinda like Chef Bruce Naftaly of Le Gourmand seattle. When he was at Berkeley in the early 70's he started buying as much of his produce as he could from organic farms. There were few farms and even fewer chefs who used organic because the prices were 2-3 times normal plus it was a super big pain in the ass to get . I asked Bruce why he did it, thinking he would have some political new agey reason. He said he did it because he thought that stuff tasted better. Full Stop. He also says that over the last 20 years he has been very let down by doing it, as more and more people got into organics he increasingly came across organic stuff that was crap. He said that eventually he came to understand that it was all about the farmer not the other stuff, and it just happened that in the early days all the farmers who were doing organic were farmers that cared about what they where doing and how they did it. He said that he long ago stopped assuming that organic was better, he knew that he had to get to know the farmer.
I was buying duck livers from these people years ago because I loved the way they look and taste. It was not till later that I got the idea that they might be responsibly farming.
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