02 Mar Sacred Indulgence
For some reason, there is a plague in modern society whereby the pleasures of the palate are being eroded in the name of causes du jour.
Something as ethereally pleasing and nourishing as bread has been cast aside in the march toward a carb-less life, where anything heavier than a lettuce leaf will surely result in eternal damnation.
Foie gras has become a social pariah. Animal rights activists have turned to sensationalism, threats, and a special kind of domestic terrorism to force us not to offend their delicate sensibilities. They wheel television sets up to restaurant windows with videos from their “horror files” to persuade — no, intimidate — people not to partake in one of cuisine’s most sublime treats. They call chefs on the phone and threaten them with mass protests and harassment of their clientele if they do not remove foie gras from the menu.
Can anyone tell me how such actions have cast these thugs in a light of supposed purity and goodness? When did bullying become noble? Why is it ok for these ridiculous sensationalists to sneak into a purveyor’s grounds and steal the animals from which he makes his living, all in the name of “setting the ducks free?” The last time I checked, that was called theft.
I have talked to many chefs about foie gras production, and each of them has given me the same explanation: The process is not the heinous massacre it is purported to be, and far less malicious than what a supermarket chicken undergoes on its way to market. To treat the ducks badly would cause stress to their systems, and would render the livers useless from overproduction of stress-related chemicals.
It is time for those of us who enjoy such pleasures to make our voices heard, and to encourage people to educate themselves about the processes involved in food production. Not from animal rights videos, but from the farmers themselves. Of course, thanks to the sensationalism of these groups, there are now laws on the books to render domestic foie gras production an impossibility in the very near future. One more of our pleasures is about to be cast into a sea of guilt.
It is time to silence these terrormongers whose deepest desire is for all of us to hug a bunny and pet a duck. I’ll gladly do both — right before I coat them in spices and put them in my roasting pan.
Photo: Kelly Cline