For those of you who do not know, foie gras is, quite plainly, fattened goose or duck liver. Now,
the controversy is in the way the liver is fattened. A practice called gavage is used which is force-feeding through a tube so that the liver of the bird expands, as much as 8 times it's size, in a very short period of time. Anthony Bourdain, famous chef and food writer, visited a foie gras producing farm and spoke to a veterinarian about gavaging. The whole interview and visit to the farm can be viewed here, if so desired. Essentially the vet explains that the anatomy of a duck is quite different then that of a human, not only does a duck have wings and webbed feet, but their windpipe is located on the tongue and therefore they do not have the same gag reflex as we do and can breathe quite easily with a tube down their throat. Makes sense so far, right? At this point I had an "aha" moment, this gavaging may not be natural in anyway but at least the duck is not in huge amounts of pain, I will admit that my imagination got a little carried away in picturing a terrified duck squawking in terror. Not to say that there aren't places that are not so human about it but I was beginning to understand a little of Anthony Bourdain's side of things. But I was still not quite satisfied, because aren't ducks and geese natural eaters? Will they not just eat and eat if there is food around? Which lead me to another chef and food writer, Dan Barber. Dan Barber is a Chef and owner of a restaurant in New York that is the perfect image of 'farm to table' food. He is also a fan of foie gras. Here is a video of him doing a talk on foie gras, it is very interesting but a little longer than Anthony Bourdain's 5 minutes. Dan Barber visits a farm in Spain where a farmer and his family has been producing foie gras sans gavage since 1812! He treats the geese like his babies and gives them exactly what they want. He keeps them in a paddock with electric fence on the outside to protect them. And get this, his geese call down wild geese from the sky and they STAY not just for a visit but forever, or until they are harvested! The geese, eat, and eat, and eat, and while he might not be able to harvest it as quickly as other places his foie gras is natural and happy. Dan also talks about the history of foie gras and how it originated with the Jewish who discovered that in the fall their geese gorged themselves naturally preparing for winter and their live enlarged and became a delicious, fatty, treat. And then the Pharaoh found out about the treat and he wanted it all the time. But it's not available all year so what did they have to start doing for fear of their lives? Gavaging. And so it turns out that the story of foie gras is much like the story of much of the food we consume today, out of season and far from happy. You may be wondering why I even brought this up, or maybe you've fallen asleep 5 minutes ago, but if you're still here the reason my mind is on foie gras is because we got one in at school yesterday and had a little demo on it. 
It looks completely unappealing, doesn't it?So, whats my opinion then? Well, I think that it is like any food product, it is no different than eating factory produced meats or asparagus in December. Animals in factory farms aren't all that happy either. I think what it comes down to is not choosing foie gras or no foie gras it's about choosing sustainable and happy food products or not. It's about honoring the seasons and treating everything with a respect, whether it's a goose, a pig, tomatoes, or stalks of asparagus. For now that's where my opinion lies...in trying my best to make sustainable and informed choices. Innocence may be bliss (if you don't look to deeply) but knowledge is power.
*Thanks for listening to my rant...they happen every so often!
1 comment:
I appreciate your attempt at living with attention to where and how our food is produced...the relationship between how we sustain life and are thus sustained.
M
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