Foie gras, pros and cons and in between

Jesus, how to unzip a thread.

Dont blame me, I did nothing wrong. Maybe she is having a bad day.

**** off

I did not do anything to you either. It looks like it is time for a lesson on tolerance around here.

I responded to him, so I guess that's my bad. Won't happen again, I promise.

Suck up.

Hi Ossobuco-
I've raised my own ducks and geese, as ethically as possible, and haven't had any qualms about gracing my table with them when their time came. I've eaten many livers, and have also worked with foie gras in culinary school workshops. Personally I am not very fond of foie gras and don't consider it a healthy food because it is so high in fat and I prefer the taste of normal duck and goose liver. But I believe it should be among the options available to people who enjoy it more than I do.

The primary concern for many people is the issue of force feeding. Of all the things done to animals, force feeding is an odd one to pick on. The procedure can certainly vary depending on the care one takes while doing it, and anyone who injures a bird in the process is a callous oaf, but that is the problem, more so than the forced feeding. (Yes, by the way, I did follow your link, and have personally seen many responsibly-run farms).
The US government has force fed prisoners at Guantanamo. I have heard very few complaints about the force feeding, and indeed it was intended to save their lives against their wills when they went on hunger strikes, but who in their right minds would focus on the force feeding when there are so many bigger issues such as being held for years without formal charges, or suggest it's more humane to simply let them starve themselves to death?

There are different ways to get "too much" food into an organism. I'm a sucker for cats, and I've been buying my cat the food he prefers. Yes, companies have been savvy enough to pump them full of flavors, scents and textures that make them irresistible to a cat. Now comes a quandry. Left with a big bowl of food, my cat will eat too much of this food, he will get fatter and fatter until his belly drags on the floor, and his liver probably gets enlarged as well. So it's time to choose: 1) Should I buy a less tasty food that he refuses to eat unless he is literally starving? 2) should I give him less food than he wants so he's perpetually begging for more? 3) should I just give him what he wants and let his belly drag?
I've chosen (2) though he routinely jumped on me as I slept to show his displeasure. But really all three options could in some way be considered cruel by those who are really into hand wringing. We're clearly facing this quandry with humans and junk food as well. Nobody had to force a tube down this kid's throat to get four times the needed calories into him.


not my cat but this is probably how he'd look if he were in charge of feeding.


And this is how many kids DO look when their parents imagine that giving the kids what they want is "humane"

"I wonder if there are farms that are actually as cruel as I'd imagined..."


I've seen it in the raw and it's everything as bad as youtube and then some.

This clinical animal paradise is no better, in my mind. If an animal has food put into it, rather than choosing to eat it for itself, I don't want any part of it, no matter how pleasant and homely the lady is who sings rock a bye baby while she's doing it.

Why is that, because it isn't "natural?"
Nature, any farmer can tell you, is rarely a prettier sight. Ducks in the wild choose to eat junk from the bottom of lakes for instance that often causes them to die of botulism in large numbers.
http://www.wcsv.org/education/diseases/duck-botulism/

It was nature too, in the form of raccoons and wild coy-dogs that killed many of the birds I raised in far less humane ways than butchering. A bird that is chased and has its throat torn out by a predator might well have preferred being in a controlled environment with food squirted down its throat.

What is your objection to me having an opinion?

I am fully aware of how raw and nasty the animal world can be. I am also aware of how human beings can be.

I will not eat food that is not naturally reared.

I'm not stopping you or anyone from eating the stuff, but having stood three or four feet from where this dreadful procedure took place, I made a decision to never eat it again.

Lordy, I have no objection to your having an opinion, nor do I object to your deciding not to eat foods for whatever your reasons. And I respect and value your contributions here; my comment was intended only to shed light on the fact that not force-feeding animals doesn't in any way imply that they're going to have an easier, kinder, happier, less painful or violent future.
I am particularly concerned that many people easily latch onto such notions as "I won't eat rabbits because it's cruel" but are oblivious to how much MORE cruel it is when they release their white rabbit into the woods to be torn apart by a predator it is entirely unprepared to deal with. I seek a balance of viewpoints, I am not trying to negate yours.