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Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2014 18:34:21 GMT
I bought some foie gras today, which is a very rare event for me, not so much for "ethical" reasons but because I find it quite expensive and even though it is most definitely several notches above simple liver "pâté," my palate is generally well satisfied by cheaper items.
As for the ethical aspect, naturally I disapprove of stuffing a funnel down the throat of any animal to fill it with food, but the reports about this generally fail to show what happens right before the funnel event -- the geese and ducks who run to the feeder to be the first in line to be stuffed (at least the free range ones, not the ones who live in tiny cages). It reminds one of a bar having a special on buffalo wings or sliders. If I chose to boycott foie gras, there are so many other things that I would have to stop eating (particularly if I did not live in France) such as all of the animals injected with hormones against their will just so they will get big and fat as fast as possible.
All of us who are not strict vegetarians have a lot to answer for.
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Post by bjd on Dec 19, 2014 19:17:19 GMT
I made 6 jars at the beginning of the week. I also bought one readymade to serve at Christmas.
Just today I heard a report on the radio saying how easy it is to make, although the man's recipe contained alcohol, which I do not add. It indeed comes out to about half the price of prepared foie gras. He also said that you shouldn't buy livers that are too big (talking of duck livers, like I bought) because that means they are too fatty and not as good. Of course you have to buy good quality livers too, not "tout venant".
But I don't make or eat enough to go especially to the Gers to the marché au gras to buy any livers.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2014 21:01:46 GMT
It's pretty rare here, and illegal in some places in the US. I've only had it a couple of times, and could only have a bite or two. I just don't like liver.
I don't have any ethical arguments against fois gras, I figure if you're going to eat animals, whether you eat them now (veal) or later (beef), free-range or cage-kept, something still has to die for it to happen. People hope that by buying ethically they will discourage or shut down certain practices, and I suppose it has some effect. For instance, it is incredibly difficult to buy veal here, which I regret. Veal does not have to be cruel.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2014 21:19:04 GMT
It's true that I would have difficulty imagining someone liking any kind of liver out of the blue. Either you grow up with liver as a normal family meal item or it is a very slow apprenticeship after a number of "force feedings" when you find yourself in a situation that you cannot avoid. (A number of alcoholic beverages also need a number of 'involuntary' consumptions to finally grow on you.)
From my experience, anybody who doesn't like liver doesn't like any other sort of organ meat (tripe, heart, sweetbreads...) and this is almost always from just the thought of it. Most of these things are eaten just fine if you hide what they are from the person eating them. Frankly, I have found the same thing about a number of vegetables. People who 'hate' turnips find out that they are really quite good if they eat them without knowing what they are.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2014 21:28:05 GMT
I think with organ meats, it's usually the texture that turns me off. That, and the sight of tripe.  |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2014 22:02:24 GMT
Even tripe can be disguised.  |
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Post by lagatta on Dec 19, 2014 23:15:45 GMT
I don't hate foie gras, but I don't really like it any more than normal duck livers. (We rarely get goose livers here). They actually tend to store quite a bit of fat naturally - do these volatiles live on junk food and booze?
They are easy to find in Québec, but expensive.
Even though they do get killed, I do think proper treatment of farm animals is important. Le gavage is way down on the list of ills.
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Post by bjd on Dec 20, 2014 8:54:46 GMT
Well, I don't like liver either, not do I eat any other kidneys, sweetbreads or tripe kind of things. But foie gras is good. When I was a kid in Toronto, there was an English butcher nearby whose window display consisted of absolutely revolting looking white stuff. I learned later that it was tripe. |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2014 15:18:13 GMT
Curious, lagatta, did you mean volailles instead of volatiles? Auto-correct?
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2014 15:37:20 GMT
Looking back, there is an interesting discussion about foie gras on page 10 of this section.
It's titled: The Foie Gras Wars based on a NY Times article written around the time the thread was started.
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Post by lagatta on Dec 20, 2014 17:50:54 GMT
Lizzyfaire, probably. In French "volatiles" (as well as the same meaning as in English, as an adjective: volatil, volatile) also refers to birds but they have to be able to fly. Can't imagine foie gras geese flying very far, like wild geese.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2014 17:53:44 GMT
Ah, I had no idea about "volatiles" in that context. I could only think of volatile chemicals.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 22, 2015 23:21:16 GMT
I still have a bit of the foie gras that I bought, which would seem to indicate that I am not all that attracted to it.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Jan 23, 2015 20:05:44 GMT
I am afraid that I'm one of those namby-pamby individuals who think that buying free-range absolves them of any responsibility for animal cruelty. I have never eaten foie gras, have always believed the reports, perhaps the horror stories aren't universally true, just reported from a perspective that I chose to relate to. I am an omnivore and I eat meat but I do think that we have a responsibility as consumers to ensure that good animal welfare is an integral part of farming. I am probably being unrealistic.  it's difficult.... |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2015 20:24:04 GMT
Yes, and I still haven't finished my foie gras, so if I don't, I will have to toss it soon.
I figure that animals have the same right as humans to eat and drink the wrong things, whether they are ducks running to be stuffed or chimpanzees or elephants getting dead drunk on fermented fruit.
What I sort of feel guilty about is that fact that I have noticed that I find battery chickens to taste better than free range chickens. They are juicier and more tender since they never go anywhere, whereas free range chickens are often tough and dry. What a silly debate, though, if debate it is -- whatever the method, we are raising these poor stupid creatures just to kill them whenever we decide.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Jan 23, 2015 21:04:47 GMT
If I had to kill the animals myself, then I would probably become a vegetarian overnight.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2015 21:23:19 GMT
Same for me.
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it's difficult....