Your views on Foie Gras

[*Bob*]

Respect to those determined to continue the 'debate' on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and from the ski slopes etc. I salute you all! As far as I know, there's yet to be a post made on here from within a burning building, but I suppose it's only a matter or time.

Mick - 'what Otta said'. Twas just a point, not all-consuming or controversial - but a factor fo' sho'.

Just skimming over the first 600000 pages on this subject - and it would appear all possible points have already been made four or five times, so (as they say) 'stick a fork in my ass..'

[Loz]

Santerme Wrote:

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> Actually I would be quite interested to know where

> Loz is and what the snow is like

>

> Thinking of a quick jaunt to the slopes myself

Obertauern, Austria. It absolutely chucked it down last night and today, with blue skies forecast tomorrow. I've been up to my (pompous) arse in snow. So far, apart from one day when it rained, the season has been excellent. Most of Austria has been having an above average season.

So come on over, Santerme. And bring some foie gras.

[aquarius moon]

*Bob* Wrote:

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> Respect to those determined to continue the

> 'debate' on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and from the

> ski slopes etc. I salute you all! As far as I

> know, there's yet to be a post made on here from

> within a burning building, but I suppose it's only

> a matter or time.

>

> Mick - 'what Otta said'. Twas just a point, not

> all-consuming or controversial - but a factor fo'

> sho'.

>

> Just skimming over the first 600000 pages on this

> subject - and it would appear all possible points

> have already been made four or five times, so (as

> they say) 'stick a fork in my ass..'

Not all of us spent our christmas morning stuffing a poor turkey, so had plenty ot time to post on here.

[Lowlander]

aquarius moon Wrote:

>

>

> Not all of us spent our christmas morning stuffing

> a poor turkey, so had plenty ot time to post on

> here.

Bet they had time to drink a cup of tea with un-ethically produced cow's milk though!

[aquarius moon]

Lowlander Wrote:

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> aquarius moon Wrote:

> >

> >

> > Not all of us spent our christmas morning

> stuffing

> > a poor turkey, so had plenty ot time to post on

> > here.

>

>

> Bet they had time to drink a cup of tea with

> un-ethically produced cow's milk though!

Read the thread entitled ' if you are fighting a losing battle'

You might learn something that you don't already know.

[Lowlander]

Perhaps you are as ethical as you can be (quorn withstanding). Your fellow protagonists are not.

[Parkdrive]

So this thread has now been renamed Ski Sunday.

[civilservant]

Chucks this morsel from today's Observer into the Forum :

"Eating real meat in 2035 could be as morally questionable as eating foie gras ? and about as expensive. As Dr Mark Post says: "A meat-eater with a bicycle is much more environmentally unfriendly than a vegetarian with a Hummer." http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/jan/05/the-future-of-food

Then stands well back to watch the feeding frenzy!

[Huguenot]

I thought that was an excellent piece - particularly with ref to LD's thread in the a lounge.

Doesn't have anything to do with Foie Gras really, and it wasn't an ideal metaphor - the moral challenge with Foie Gras isn't that it's environmentally unsound.

[civilservant]

Point taken, H - but I think it's worth moving this debate off its current waffly judgemental stance to think more coherently about the actual environmental cost of meat-eating.

I followed the links in the article to the FAO stats website, and the figures (trillions!) of animals annually killed for meat each year are very sobering, as are the figures on the environmental costs of rearing them (and as we know, these figures invariably underestimate the true numbers.)

[Alec John Moore]

This thread has helped me think a bit more about why I don't eat meat. I've never felt the need to justify it although friends and colleagues always find it easy to label me a veggie despite the fact that I'm quite clear that I eat fish. I agree that the tendency to label us gets in the way of a helpful debate about the broader consequences of meat eating. We all need to overcome our prejudices about what are in effect lfestyle choices for most of us on this forum and recognise that if we don't begin to make the changes now, voluntarily, then we will be faced with increasingly limited choices for how we live in the future.

Reading that last bit again I see it's uncharacteristic for me to be polemical but really I want to say that it shouldn't be too difficult for us to eat further down the food chain and maintain a healthy, nutritious diet.

[Huguenot]

Although that's bit like saying that we should stop wearing shoes now because someday we might not be able to afford them?

[civilservant]

I'd say it's more like saying that someday we won't be able to afford as many pairs of shoes as we currently splurge on.

I differ from ajm because in my view, people will always need shoes, just as people will always eat (need?) meat or milk or fish.

But I agree with him that people need to accept responsibility for consuming these things. This means cutting down on waste and paying the right price i.e. factoring in the environmental costs, including the cost of ethical treatment of the animals involved.

Cheap chicken is cheap because we don't pay the full costs of production i.e. it is imported, so another country bears the environmental cost of poor farming practice, the chickens are intensively farmed, so they themselves bear the cost of un-ethical methods of production etc.

This is not just Guardianista sloganising, see even the Daily Wail - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1278495/The-unappetising-truth-McDonalds-chicken-meals.html.

And before you remind me (again!), this doesn't cover foie gras,unless it is intensively produced - for which the argument against seems to be almost entirely moral and ethical.

[Alec John Moore]

H, I think we, most of us on this thread, probably agree more than we disagree. The Guardian article was interesting in a number of ways, not least of which was the indication that the ethical dilemma for some of us will increase as we confront the reality of having GM more and more a part of global food production.

I also think that a practical concern about profligacy - surely a moral concern, too - has been a part of the dialogue around production/consumption and sustainable development probably since the sixties or before.

To add to cs's point about the displacement of the costs of cheap food to other, producing, countries, the costs are also human in the exploitation of labour that helps keep the costs down for the massive corporations behind most of the global food production industry. See Felicity Lawrence's books for more on that.

[polla2256]

Salsaboy Wrote:

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> It's a goose not a duck and I agree with bawdy -

> it is delicious.

Not quite true - Foie gras is "fat liver". Goose is really tasty (foie gras D'oi), Duck is nice but not as creamy or smooth (Foei Gras de Canard). Also there are verying methods of preperation - I've eaten a number of differing types. The freshly prepared seared goose liver type is very different to the "normal" pate variety, also there are many methods for both hot and cold consumption. As such "Foie Gras" as a term is a bit too general. However its guise its bloody delicious.

[lane lover]

I love fois gras. I have it whenever I can.

[steveo]

Here we go again

The goose that laid the golden thread

[KidKruger]

Ooooh it's so morally reprehensible etc. etc. blah blah

[woodrot]

wretched facsimile sock puppet polemicists come out to play

[Annette Curtain]

Really, provocations/flaming aside

Who actually eats the stuff and if so how many times a year/lifetime ?

As a supplier i'm close to the London restaurant biz, i'm in one on average 7-10 times a week

How many times have I seen it feature on a menu this year ?

Twice I reckon, and then as a special, for a short time

It's a non subject really

Rose Veal is rightly popular tho

Discuss/disect

[DaveR]

In the top end fine dining restaurants foie gras is still pretty much ever present. And it's regularly been on the menu at the Palmerston, for example.

I've lost count of the number of times I've eaten foie gras.

But I agree it's a non subject.

[????]

That impostor isn't a Foie Gras thread, no way. THIS is a Foie Gras thread

[????]

???? Wrote:

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> So. To summarise this thread.

>

> East Dulwich's bleedin heart, liberal, ethical,

> morally snug principles are just skin deep, right

> on stances as long suspected. They don't even go

> as deep as their tastebuds.

some of my finest work

[Seabag]

???? Wrote:

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> ???? Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > So. To summarise this thread.

> >

> > East Dulwich's bleedin heart, liberal, ethical,

> > morally snug principles are just skin deep,

> right

> > on stances as long suspected. They don't even

> go

> > as deep as their tastebuds.

>

> some of my finest work

With or without toast?

[DulwichFox]

Foie Gras Production :- This is what Reporters were allowed to film.

Distressing but there are much worse places where No one were allowed to even enter

Animal Rights people did gain access but their footage is too shocking to place on this Forum.

DulwichFox