Le Gavage - The Act Of Force-Feeding To Produce Foie Gras

[DonRocks]

To paraphrase my French chef instructor in cooking school, "Some people, I guess they have nothing better to do, have some kind of problem with foie gras." Foie gras is a controversial foodstuff for ridiculous reasons. The complaints lodged against foie gras pale in comparison to the horrors of commodity pork, beef, and chicken. The ducks and geese used in foie gras production are force-fed, simulating a natural process the animals use to store energy for migration. As one of the most fragile organs, a high quality liver demands that the birds raised for foie gras are healthy and well-cared for. We can enjoy this product with far less guilt than readily available, more mainstream proteins. That's it for political stuff.

I cannot in good conscience defend the selfish practice of Le Gavage, but I can say with great confidence that on a global scale, the total amount of inhumanity involved in eating foie gras is dwarfed in comparison with the inhumane treatment of industrial livestock, chickens crammed into cages, etc. That said, so does eating shark fin soup and wearing a mink coat, and I wonder aloud if foie gras lovers (and I am one of them - sautéed foie gras may be my single favorite food) use this as an indefensible justification of what amounts to animal torture. Is this really any different than saying a single hate crime isn't that bad compared to genocide? Are people going to look back at this post in 250 years and compare it to Thomas Jefferson being concerned about treating his slaves humanely?

[The Hersch]

Do you really think that gavage is torture? The birds don't seem to mind it that much. As you say, it's nothing compared to industrially raised chickens, who have their fucking beaks cut off. To the extent that all flesh-food production involves a sort of cruelty, foie gras production does too. It's hardly in the same category as the harvesting of shark fins, which involves cutting sharks' fins off and tossing the sharks back into the water to die a helpless, lingering death.

I think your analogy of gavage-is-to-industrial-poultry as one-hate-crime-is-to-genocide is way off the mark. If the harm to a goose or duck raised for foie gras were as bad as the routine harm done to a Perdue chicken, then it might be apposite. But it's not. The single goose or duck has a relatively good life compared to the single industrial chicken.

[ScotteeM]

I love foie gras, too, and my reading of the method used to produce it, as well as duck anatomy and behavior, lead me to conclude that it really isn't that cruel. My understanding is that the ducks line up for their feedings.

There is too much misinformation perpetrated about animal agriculture, most of it by organizations whose stated purpose is to end ALL animal agriculture. They're also the ones who have campaigned against foie gras. They don't want us to eat animals, wear them, have them work for us, or have them as pets. Anything they promulgate is not to be trusted.

[Banco]

I cannot in good conscience defend the selfish practice of Le Gavage, but I can say with great confidence that on a global scale, the total amount of inhumanity involved in eating foie gras is dwarfed in comparison with the inhumane treatment of industrial livestock, chickens crammed into cages, etc.

You just defended it, with your second clause. I happen to agree.

[DonRocks]

Do you really think that gavage is torture? 

Now that you ask this, I really don't know. I've never seen it done live, or in movies; only in a picture (no, it wasn't a PETA picture - it's when I was in France, many years ago). It wasn't a pleasant looking photo, but the true answer is: I really don't know; I can suppose that they'd rather *not* be fed that way, and just eat on their own, but I can also suppose they'd rather not be slaughtered and yet here I am, willingly eating it. And you make a good point about shark fin soup.

[The Hersch]

Now that you ask this, I really don't know. I've never seen it done live, or in movies; only in a picture (no, it wasn't a PETA picture - it's when I was in France, many years ago).

Video here. Lots of videos of gavage at youtube, some neutral, some anti.

[zoramargolis]

Most of the foie gras we get here comes from one or two farms in the Hudson Valley, some via d'Artagnan. The producers raise and feed their animals humanely. My guess is that the gavage "horror films" come from European poultry farms where the ducks are raised on an industrial scale.

[deangold]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzfBh-kGs8M

This is a very anti foie gras video of an undercover investigation at Hudson Valley.  Now I am no DVM, but I have been to several duck farms, turkey farms and chicken farms in my past life as a VP of purchasing at Whole Foods.

From what I have seen of poultry production elsewhere, these ducks simply do not seem to be under a lot of stress.  They are not filthy in comparison to a lot of other poultry operations.  They are not highly agitated.  And yes, animals do die in food production.  But one dead animal is not a scandal or cruelty.  We would need to see the rate of mortality and compare it to best practices duck farms to evaluate.

Duck preen, but not 24/7.  Is this lack of preening selective or just a few moments of film?  We will not know from the film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNJDZm1bgVA

Here is another anti film.  Again, a single injured bird on kill line is not a scandal.  If this is a regular occurrence, then show us.  The ducks shown "trying to escape" simply are not showing the stress reactions I have witnessed on other duck farms.  They do seem to dislike the noise of the feeding machine and they do congregate in the corner of the pen, but with not a lot of wing flapping or other forms of stress.

I am in the camp of out of all the cruelties inflicted on animals in the quest for the $.99 Mickey D's burger and the evils of fast food and they corporate ag world, this is a pretty decent process.

[chefgunshow]

Field Trip?

[Bart]

I love foie gras, too, and my reading of the method used to produce it, as well as duck anatomy and behavior, lead me to conclude that it really isn't that cruel. My understanding is that the ducks line up for their feedings.

Bourdain did a show on it a few years back and, yep, when it was feeding time, the ducks came a-runnin'!

[Sundae in the Park]

Kenji @ Serious Eats has a lot to say about it - The Physiology of Foie: Why Foie Gras is Not Unethical.  Yes, I'm still irritated that CA banned foie gras just as I moved here.