foie gras

Pun · Post by **Pun** » Tue May 31, 2005 1:39 pm

I'd like to preempt this post by saying that I'm not a PETA advocate or a vegetarian. I recently watched a few videos that showed how they force feed ducks to fatten their livers for foie gras. I was utterly disgusted. I wont even link the videos because they're so nasty, but I'm sure with some googling, you can find it yourself.

Undoubtedly any animal that is mass produced and raised factory style for eventual slaugher for meat doesn't have the best life. I'm sure that poor conditions abound. However, after watching the video, I will never eat foie gras again. I can't even begin to describe how sickening the conditions are at these facilities and the cruelty these ducks suffer in order for us humans to be able to impress people at a cocktail party.

Some of you might not even know what foie gras is, or perhaps have never eaten it. I must say I have and it's delicious, but it'll never go in my mouth again.

If you do eat foie gras, and dont really know how it's made, look into it. I'm sure you'll come away from the experience as nauseated as I am now.

CDN_Merlin · Post by **CDN_Merlin** » Tue May 31, 2005 2:06 pm

Have you ever seen how chicks are handled? they go through converyor belts and stuff. Yes Pate Foie gras is awesome. I love eating and won't stop. There will always be someone saying we treat livestock etc poorly no matter how humain we kill them.

Just need to stop looking at those videos. Oh, have you ever seen how fish is caught? Ever see how many dolphins and sharks get killed in the nets each year just to feed us fish?

Ever wonder what Caviar is? It's fish eggs. Now that is cruelty if you ask me. But isn't that just like eating eggs for breakfast?

Pun · Post by **Pun** » Tue May 31, 2005 2:23 pm

Dude, there's nothing even remotely humane about foie gras production. As I mentioned, I'm sure the reality of most meat production plants is pretty ugly, but this to me crosses the line. Shoving a metal tube down the throat of a 5 pound animal and pumping a pound of fat in 3 times a day goes beyond my comfort zone.

It's you're prerogative if you want to continue to eat it. It's also mine not to eat it.

One of the videos I watched showed a rat eating a duck alive and the duck was so sickly and fat and full of food, it couldn't even move to try to fight off the rat. It just sat there while the rat ate its a**hole.

woodchip · Post by **woodchip** » Tue May 31, 2005 5:31 pm

Veal is another form of creating food at the expense of an animal being kept in less than stellar conditions.

Pun · Post by **Pun** » Tue May 31, 2005 5:44 pm

I actually have a friend that owns veal farms and a packing house. Veal calves are a by-product of the dairy industry. Calves that are born male are used for veal. Evidently, dairy cows dont make very good meat if they're allowed to fully grow. Altough I'm not condoning it, and I'm aware that veal calves spend their lives in crates etc., somehow it seems easier to stomach. I mean, somehow, to me (and maybe I'm rationalizing) it's not so "wrong". But the things they do to those ducks man, that's just so wrong.

Will Robinson · Post by **Will Robinson** » Tue May 31, 2005 7:20 pm

woodchip wrote:Veal is another form of creating food at the expense of an animal being kept in less than stellar conditions.

I'm a reformed veal eater after having seen how they raise the calves.
"...less than stellar conditions" <--- now there's a sugar coated rat turd if I ever saw one

TheCope · Post by **TheCope** » Tue May 31, 2005 7:47 pm

You should see the equipment they use at the golden plump factory where my mullet wearing cousins work. I can't believe a team of engineers actually patented equipment that rips apart a creature in such an efficient way. If I ain't seeing it, it's not happening, right?

I used to be a veggie while I played d3. It wasn't political... I got a vein in a turkey sandwich once and almost vomited. Ultimately it came down to metabolism; I can't really live strong without animal protein because mine is high and I ain't rich. That is the truth.

The more you learn about how animals are processed the more you respect (real) hunters, itâ??s kinda strange but true. A hunter actually makes the kill, cleans the meat, and then consumes it. They are fully aware of every step, very unlike the type of people that consume exotic foods and dip. They ainâ??t getting their hands dirty.

I have no point other than you can survive very well in this life with lessâ?¦ but I know thatâ??s an impossible thing to try to convey to the laserblaster NOW NOW NOW world we live in.

roid · Post by **roid** » Tue May 31, 2005 8:38 pm

idea: maybe some meat products could have big stickers on them showing the inhumaine treatment of the animals. like how taboacco cigarette packets have huge smoking warnings on them (and sometimes pictures of disected lungs urgh).

i buy freerange chicken eggs

but not even that is a guarentee, there are loopholes around these things.
only the actual cotton product doesn't have to be directly sprayed with pesticides for it to be called - "organicly grown" - you can spray everything else, just not the cotton bud.
- "juice" only has to have a certain small percentage of ACTUAL juice in it to be able to be labeled as "juice".
- "freerange" chickens have similar loopholes that not many people know about. can you actually define what "free range" means? some companys have very odd definitions of it.

basically everything points at companys' inability to self-regulate their greed with compassion.

insert government regulatory body here.

CDN_Merlin · Post by **CDN_Merlin** » Tue May 31, 2005 8:39 pm

Hunting with a rifle is pure BS. Using a bow n arrow, I don't mind cause the animal has a chance to run away.

One thing to understand in all of this is that these animals are raised to be food for us. I don't eat liver pate often but when I do I love it.

If you eat lobster, you are doing worse than that duck. Think about being boiled alive?

There's always two sides to the equation and most people tend to look only at one side.

If shoving fat down a ducks throat will stop people from hunting ducks out of existence, then so be it.

Hostile · Post by **Hostile** » Tue May 31, 2005 10:38 pm

No ★■◆● about the veal.... I love a good steak, but I don't eat veal. Never had liver pate so I guess I haven't contributed. And as far as lobster....I saw this cooking show the other day where they had the live lobster on the table and before they dropped it in the boiling pot of death, the lady took a big ass knife and cut it long ways down the middle from its head to its ass. How would you like someone to take you out that way LOL. That lady was like..."and make sure you have these claws secured because they will snap at you." I was like holy ★■◆●, they should have to prepare them without the claw restraints just to make it marginally possible for the lobster to get in one good lick before it goes. Don't get me wrong though, I will put down a good lobster.

P.s. It is just bow hunting, not bow n arrow. You don't say, "hey I'm gonna go rifle n bullet hunting!!!!.............. The arrows are the ammo.

woodchip · Post by **woodchip** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 6:45 am

CDN_Merlin wrote: If shoving fat down a ducks throat will stop people from hunting ducks out of existence, then so be it.

Tell me something Merlin. Who do you think donates more money to preserving ducks...non-hunters or hunters? Ever hear of a group called "Ducks Unlimited"? This is a group of hunters who banded togeather to buy up wetlands ( a lot of land was bought up in Canada btw) so ducks have habitat to breed. Sport Hunters don't drive animals out of existence, it is agribusiness and developers, mono-culture tree farms and strip miners who destroy habitat that wind up killing off animals to the point of extinction.

woodchip · Post by **woodchip** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 6:53 am

CDN_Merlin wrote: If shoving fat down a ducks throat will stop people from hunting ducks out of existence, then so be it.

Tell me something Merlin. Who do you think donates more money to preserving ducks...non-hunters or hunters? Ever hear of a group called "Ducks Unlimited"? This is a group of hunters who banded togeather to buy up wetlands ( a lot of land was bought up in Canada btw) so ducks have habitat to breed. Sport Hunters don't drive animals out of existence, it is agribusiness and developers, mono-culture tree farms and strip miners who destroy habitat that wind up killing off animals to the point of extinction.

Flabby Chick · Post by **Flabby Chick** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 7:34 am

It was banned from being produced in my neck of the woods this year.

I've worked with animals for donkeys years now and love eating them without a twitch of the old guilt box; however after seeing how both were done (foie gas and veal) i stick well away from them.

The best animal i've worked and eaten is ostrich, with a garlic sauce and a sip or two of the old grape
juice..... ahhh!!!

Dedman · Post by **Dedman** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 7:40 am

If God didn't want us to eat animals, he wouldn't have made them out of meat.

Pun · Post by **Pun** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 8:26 am

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have no problem eating animals. It's just that I'd rather not have the animals tortured first. Again, perhaps I'm rationalizing, but somehow this foie gras thing just crosses the line for me. Hypocritical? Maybe.

Take a look at this and let me know if you think thats ok to do to an animal three times a day. The amount of food they're taking in would be the equivalent of shoving 15 pounds of food down an average human's gullet.

Dedman · Post by **Dedman** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 9:05 am

Call me a barbarian, but I have no problem with that. I would never want that job, but as long as someone is willing to do it, I have no problem eating the results. I feel the same way about veal.

CDN_Merlin · Post by **CDN_Merlin** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 9:24 am

The video isn't that bad. I've seen worse. Like the seal hunters in the North. Whale catchers etc.

I have no problems with that. I eat meat and will for the rest of my life. I eat veal one a in a while but I prefer full grown meat (aka steaks and pork).

Ferno · Post by **Ferno** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 11:31 am

heh.. you think someone grabbing an animal and shoving what looks like a spike down it's throat isn't bad?

I had a look at that vid and I had to turn it off in the first ten seconds. I actually felt ill watching it.

call me a wuss, call me whatever you want. That is disgusting, abominable and I won't even touch the stuff now.

Dedman · Post by **Dedman** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 12:25 pm

Ferno wrote:That is disgusting, abominable and I won't even touch the stuff now.

Wuss

I'm looking for a cracker

Mobius · Post by **Mobius** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 7:01 pm

Don't feel bad.

YOU CAN'T AFFORD FOIE GRAS!

I seriously doubt anyone posting here has EVER eaten force-fed foie gras. It is crazy-expensive. I certainly have never eaten any - and I would jump at the chance!

What you WILL have eaten is chicken-liver pate, which is simply a by-product from the billions of chickens killed for food each year.

The only cruelty involved there is the usual-battery chicken-type cruelty.

Ferno · Post by **Ferno** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 7:14 pm

and how do you know that Mobius?

Pun · Post by **Pun** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 7:44 pm

I've eaten foie gras plenty of times. It's expensive, but not crazy expensive. One whole foie gras liver is about 70 bucks.

CDN_Merlin · Post by **CDN_Merlin** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 7:44 pm

Mobi, don't assume that everyone here is dirt poor. Or that they never ate some at a family gathering.

Dedman · Post by **Dedman** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 7:44 pm

Ferno wrote:and how do you know that Mobius?

Because he knows everything, silly

Just ask him.

Ferno · Post by **Ferno** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 7:45 pm

you guys completely ruined it...

Stryker · Post by **Stryker** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 7:46 pm

Mobius is the disseminator of all knowledge found on earth. Bow to him.

That said, I don't quite see the pleasure in eating force-stuffed bird. Once you know where food's been, it kind of loses its appeal. Roasted cricket, delicacy though it may be in some areas, is still roasted cricket, and I sure as heck ain't eating any.

Sergeant Thorne · Post by **Sergeant Thorne** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 7:49 pm

Dedman wrote:If God didn't want us to eat animals, he wouldn't have made them out of meat.

LOL!

I sympathize, Punisher. The video actually didn't effect me at all. Maybe I'm just desensetized in some odd way... I really don't like the idea of that, though. I don't like a lot of the things I've seen about commercial meat "production". I can't quite put my finger on it: I don't have any problem with raising animals for food, but some of today's methods just seem inhumane and wrong. From what I've seen/heard, it's an industry driven by greed, so go figure.

I don't go along with the extremist views of PETA (People Eating Tasty Animals), who will probably be pushing for animal equality before long.

I would personally slaughter an animal for food, and I have no problem with hunting (nit-picking the choice of weapons is downright silly, in my opinion).

Duper · Post by **Duper** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 10:20 pm

Dedman wrote:If God didn't want us to eat animals, he wouldn't have made them out of meat.

That and He would have given us teeth like COWS.

Pun · Post by **Pun** » Mon Jun 13, 2005 7:35 am

Dont get me wrong sarge. I'm a huge carnivore. I hunt and fish, dress and eat what I catch. It's the torture that I can't justify. I think we should respect the animals that die in order for us to eat.

Sergeant Thorne · Post by **Sergeant Thorne** » Mon Jun 13, 2005 8:41 am

Yeah, I understand.

MD-2389 · Post by **MD-2389** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 12:23 am

Ferno wrote:heh.. you think someone grabbing an animal and shoving what looks like a spike down it's throat isn't bad?

I had a look at that vid and I had to turn it off in the first ten seconds. I actually felt ill watching it.

call me a wuss, call me whatever you want. That is disgusting, abominable and I won't even touch the stuff now.

Same reason why I don't touch lobster or crab. When you actually hear them scratching frantically at the pot lid, I don't doubt some of you will change your tune.

Don't get me wrong, I love meat. However, there are certain things you just shouldn't do, no matter what the animal is raised for.

Duper · Post by **Duper** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 12:42 am

btw. Humans are carnivores. We NEED a source of protein in our diet. Soemthing that will give us all 6 fo the necessary amino acids. Sure.. with education and a lot of work and synthetic foods, you can get that, but not just naturally.

If you were out in the wilderness you had better find meat.

Vertigo 99 · Post by **Vertigo 99** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 12:49 am

i have a lot of family in france and have foie gras often (despite any mobius claims). Its cheaper to buy it in france and smuggle it over.

and yeah, i know what has to be done to the animals for it; and coming from a family of farmers, id have to go the side of the farmer on this one.

Ducks are stupid anyway.

Ferno · Post by **Ferno** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 1:15 am

I have no problem with hunting. If allowed, I'd hunt my own steak.

Vindicator · Post by **Vindicator** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 1:44 am

Duper wrote:btw. Humans are carnivores.

Omnivores actually, but hey.