How Do We Know Lettuce Doesn't Scream When We Pick It?
Meat City bans foie gras, reports Joseph Epstein in The Wall Street Journal.
But, before we get into his remarks, a few words from a few others on the contention it's inhumane to the geese. (And, yes, of course it is, because ducks aren't human, and their lives shouldn't be given the same value.) For more on that, click on this link.
Now, I'm not for willy nilly killing things (in fact, I just carried a spider safely outside rather than squishing it, which I don't like to do). While I'm think it's wrong to kill animals soley for sport (or humans, for that matter, for punishment) I don't have a problem killing animals for food; especially not since meat seems to be the natural human diet; the one on which our big brains evolved, according to testing on skeletons found in eastern Europe.
Sorry, but I used to eat "The Bunny Rabbit Special": a diet based mainly in tofu and beans and all that other supposedly healthy crap. I didn't look or feel anywhere near as good as I do now eating my imitation of the French diet: grass-fed New Zealand beef and lamb; chicken, pork and fish; lots of vegetables (mostly organic), usually bathed in oil; cheese, paté, apple juice, raisins, croissants, doughnuts, Ristretto Roasters coffee, white wine, great chocolate, chocolate chip cookies, and ice cream.
Epstein isn't himself a foie gras fan, so he writes:
The problem with Chicago's banning of foie gras, then, is not a personal one for me, but ultimately a problem of civil liberties: those of fairly high-rolling gourmets versus those of geese and ducks. I've not myself seen these animals force fed to make their livers foie grasable, except in an old Italian movie called "Mondo Cane," a 1963 documentary showing strange rites around the world. The sight in that movie of live geese having grain stuffed down their throats through funnels until their livers swell well beyond normal size has remained with me. But then so has the sight of watching a Jewish ritual slaughter, when I was a boy staying with my parents at a resort in the Laurentian mountains, mutter a brief prayer before slitting the throats of chickens--and thereby rendering them kosher--before flicking them, squawking their death squawk, over his shoulder into the grass behind him.Slaughtering and butchering animals is pleasant neither to witness nor even to contemplate. One reaction to such brutal work is of course the moral response of vegetarianism, which can run from the chastest veganism (eating nothing that has eyes or is itself capable of giving birth to its own species) to that of a woman I recently heard about whose vegetarianism is restricted to refusing to eat only cute animals: no lambs, ducks, rabbits, Koala bears, but bring on the steaks and lobsters.
Yet if there is something repellent about the slaughtering of animals, this is very nearly counterbalanced by the sight and sounds of vegetarians in high moral dudgeon. For a pungent example, at a Chicago City Council committee hearing on the banning of foie gras, the actress Loretta Swit, an animal-rights activist, compared the forced feeding of geese and ducks to the treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib.
Now that foie gras has been banned from Chicago--the production and sale of it in California is also to end in 2012--the way is clear for banning other meats. My own guess for the next banned meat would be veal. The slaughtering of calves to yield veal has long been an object of moral consternation on the part of the tender-hearted. From there pork might next target of the troops of virtue, for pigs, I not long ago read, are more intelligent than horses. After pork, one can see a general ban on all kinds of sausage. Mencken once referred to hot dogs as cartridges "filled with all the sweepings of the abattoir floor." Butchers, like teachers of Marxism-Leninism after the fall of Communism in Russia, are likely to be rendered supernumerary. And then how long will it be before the government issues a study showing the baleful effects of secondary cholesterol, the results of which will be to force people to eat hamburgers and all other meats, as others may now smoke cigarettes, only out of doors?
Note to Epstein on "secondary cholesterol": it has to be true or pretendably true to be truly funny.
He does pick it up for the close:
A Chicago alderman named Joe Moore, who sponsored the ban on foie gras, after its passage declared that it sends "a powerful message that we [in Chicago] uphold the value of a civilized society." All too easily can I hear one of the red-faced, pot-bellied Chicago aldermen of my youth, reply, "What's he, [epithet deleted] nuts!?"
Thanks for that. think I might discuss at my blog where I also get into screaming kids in restos.
Bonne journee
dd
Tearfree at May 15, 2006 8:42 AM
"Loretta Swit, an animal-rights activist, compared the forced feeding of geese and ducks to the treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib."
That is obscene. Swit the Twit should be force-fed as a punishment. Feces through a pastry tube sounds appropriate.
Lena at May 15, 2006 10:56 AM
The problem with foie gras isn't that the geese are killed for food, it's that they're tortured for food. This has nothing to do with vegetarianism or radical animal rights and everything to do with humane treatment of animals. I believe the correct moral choice is to not eat foie gras and also to be willing to pay more for free range chickens, beef and lamb -- especially since most people should be eating smaller quantities of food in the first place.
Cathy Seipp at May 15, 2006 12:21 PM
I wholeheartedly agree with Cathy. To subject any living creature to a squalid life in a cramped cage, with its feet stapled down to the floor so it can't move, and have a tube rammed down its throat three times a day is incredibly immoral. Same situation with veal- ban it if it can't be created in a decent and humane manner.
Over in Montana they recently banned "farmed hunting". That is where animals, such as elk, were tied to a fence or caged and some sonofabitch tourist would pay $25,000 to kill it. Sometimes with arrows, usually with guns, and sometimes the sonofabitch tourist wouldn't even leave his air conditioned car.
It makes no sense to me that a person who loves a dog can't connect the distress these other animals go through.
Eric at May 15, 2006 12:55 PM
I'm old enough to remember that Italian shockumentary Mondo Cane quite well (though I won't admit to having seen it first-run).
The goose-feeding bit was about the least disturbing segment, didn't seem like torture to me although the narration (and the music) clearly wanted me to draw that conclusion.
I can be objective, since foie gras isn't my cup of tea. I'll just sit by Amy and help her drink the vintage Sauternes that's usually served with it....
Stu "El Inglés" Harris at May 15, 2006 4:43 PM
The anti-human crowd continues to nipple away at mankinds personal liberty on behalf of animals. Simply amazing state of affairs.
NOTR at May 15, 2006 11:15 PM
I don't know where you're getting your information about torture. Andrew Gumbel reported on this (did you not click on the link?) and that's not what he found. Furthermore, if you want to see really horrible torture, look at kosher killing. By the way, the geese apparently fight to get their chance at gavage (the feeding). Does that sound like the results of a procedure they dislike?
Amy Alkon at May 16, 2006 12:16 AM
Here's an excerpt from Andrew's article (also by John Lichfield):
http://www.maninnature.com/Birds/Birds1b.html
You think that chicken you bought at the supermarket had it so good? Unless you eat all organic meat, your dinner probably didn't go out too pleasantly.
Amy Alkon at May 16, 2006 12:20 AM
Here's a photo of the conditions at Sonoma Foie Gras.
http://chrisholmesphotography.com/sonomafoiegras/pictures/040926SanomaFoieGr%23D48C7.html
and here's your chicken dinner from Tyson!
Amy Alkon at May 16, 2006 12:23 AM
I have a feeling that Loretta wouldn't taste like chicken.
mbruce at May 16, 2006 9:31 AM
"By the way, the geese apparently fight to get their chance at gavage (the feeding). Does that sound like the results of a procedure they dislike?"
Well, that could be a response to starvation (ie, a painful feeding is better than no feeding at all).
Lena and the Boca Burgers at May 16, 2006 11:46 AM
"The anti-human crowd"- what kind of crap is that?
And even if Sonoma is a Disneyland for the birds, that doesn't excuse the conditions this food is created in everywhere else. Not to continue the Abu Gharab theme, but I bet our boys could put on quite a happy slide show about how well the prisoners are treated there, with soccer and wonderful meals.
Up here we have Canadian geese, bald eagles, wild turkey, snow owls, ravens, and a whole host of incredibly wonderful birds. I don't want to subject any such animal to even two air conditioned weeks of forced feeding so I can enjoy a cracker more. Or whatever you put this stuff on.
PS-- Did anyone else read about the Japanese chef in Arizona who has modeled his life on the Brando film "The Freshman"?
http://phoenixnewtimes.com/Issues/2006-05-11/news/feature_print.html
I still can't tell if it is an elaborate hoax or not...
eric at May 16, 2006 3:08 PM
Amy writes: "By the way, the geese apparently fight to get their chance at gavage (the feeding). Does that sound like the results of a procedure they dislike?"
To which Lena replies: "Well, that could be a response to starvation (ie, a painful feeding is better than no feeding at all)."
Um, Lena, did you miss the fact that they're being fattened for slaughter?
The geese and ducks raised for foie gras aren't kept in cages either - these are premium food items, so fois gras farming has nothing in common with factory farming.
I'm no expert, but from what I've read, the fois gras fattening process sounds more like those speed-eating contests, with a little human help to get the extra food down, than animal abuse.
I personally have no problem with fois gras, but I do have a problem with factory farming - the evils of which are apparently not even being discussed by any governmental bodies. I can understand if someone wants to go vegan because of sympathy for animals, or to avoid the horrors of factory farming. But it should be a matter of personal choice, not legislation - particularly when what is banned and what is allowed is just plain arbitrary.
Melissa at May 16, 2006 7:40 PM
>> Kosher slaughter, which still is one of the quickest and least traumatic ways to kill the animal.
Balderdash!! Kosher butchers are not allowed, according to your daft religion, to stun the animals before slitting their throats.
Stu "El Inglés" Harris at May 17, 2006 6:14 AM
Exactly, Stu. Kosher slaughter is BARBARIC. In non-Kosher slaughter, animals are stunned first. Kosher slaughter involves sticking the animal and letting it bleed out while alive in keeping with primitive religious practices. Sick.
Amy Alkon at May 17, 2006 6:31 AM
"Um, Lena, did you miss the fact that they're being fattened for slaughter?"
Um, Cuntessa, perhaps the fattening-up schedule is such that their feedings are far apart?
Lena at May 17, 2006 8:00 AM
Nice - the Goddess cuts my original (non-trolling, non-vulgar) post, but keeps in other people's PC comments on what I wrote... this from someone who thinks her free speech is being threatened because she can't say "blow job" on national radio.
Electoshock stunning of animals has problems in its own right - among them documented cases of animals thought to be dead reviving as they are being cut up. Since when was vivisection humane?
Kosher slaugher immediately stops blood flow to the animal's brain - its seat of feeling - which insures that the animal rapidly loses its awareness and sensation. It was certainly more humane than the techniques of the not-so-recent past, and the advantage of modern techniques is still not fully corroborated.
Ben-David at May 23, 2006 1:28 AM
Calm down. If your post was cut, it was an accident. It's happened to one other person once before. Kindly repost it if you can. I'm sorry -- I get about a thousand spam a day, and sometimes an accident happens. I've only intentionally cut about four posts since I've had my site up -- all of those for either libeling or impersonating another living person.
PS It's also possible you posted a lot of links, which leads the system to read an entry as spam. Was the post you're talking about posted here? And yes, it is within my rights guaranteed by the First Amendment to say blow job on the radio and to suggest women might give them to men to help their relationships along. If you aren't getting any, blame the pussies who are afraid of speech. I'm not among them.
Amy Alkon at May 23, 2006 5:07 AM
OK sorry for jumping to the nastiest/most sarcastic conclusion. I am a former New Yorker - obnoxious comes easily...
The one still-relevant point from my original post: the Chief Rabbinate of Israel investigated actual practices in foie gras production to determine if it qualified as (gratuitous) cruelty to animals (and hence forbidden under Jewish law). They found that the geese were running away from the guy with the feeding hose. This totally abnormal reaction to food was the clincher in their decision to "ban" foie gras production (they can't "ban" anything, Israel is a democracy - but they basically withheld kosher certification for foie gras).
A friend has since suggested that there may be difference between non-mechanised feeding (with a pressurized hose) and feeding in other ways. Don't know the details.
Ben-David at May 24, 2006 2:11 AM
Kosher slaughter is still barbaric. The animals must be conscious when killed, then they're let bleed out while alive. My boyfriend is a literary researcher who has done a serious study of the meat industry, so I'm not just getting this from articles.
Much of religion leads to barbarism and tribalism and other primitivities to keep up with primitive roots, and this includes Judaism, so don't feel too superior. I was raised Jewish, but I've thrown off primitivism of religion for modernity. Judaism does have its merits, such as the notion that there's no heaven or hell and living is in the now, and that helping somebody help themselves is the highest form of righteousness. The stuff where you hear Jews disdaining people of other religions -- calling them goyim, for example -- is ugly and unmodern. Keeping kosher is ridiculous. There are many more examples, but I just woke up after a tough writing day yesterday so I'll leave those to other commenters to add.
Amy Alkon at May 24, 2006 10:31 AM
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