Comments | bubblingbeebles: savage gavage

bubblingbeebles

savage gavage

Jan 05, 2011 09:13

why foie gras is not unethical

previously, i was one of those people who wouldn't eat foie gras, because i'd heard that it was unethical and didn't do much research beyond that. so, when i read this, it came time to revise some opinions. (i'm assuming i can take the article at face value.) for one thing, this makes me pretty angry at people who don ( Read more... )

food, ethics

Comments 14

sleepsong January 5 2011, 16:14:35 UTC

So do what I do and only buy meat from farms you know to be ethical. Now that I've read this, I would happily make foie from La Bella farms, and I would contact my supermarket about how pleased I am with this brand and encourage them to carry it and tell them to make a big deal about how well treated the animals are, as that's good for both of their businesses.

bubblingbeebles January 5 2011, 16:24:58 UTC

how difficult is it to keep track of? i always imagine it to be quite a bit, let alone when eating out. (what brands do you like for, say, chicken and beef?)

sleepsong January 5 2011, 16:29:48 UTC

Actually, for chicken and beef I'm quite happy with Giant Eagle brands (including Nature's Basket). I have a friend who works for Giant Eagle as a manager and he's told me that they're very conscientious about where they buy their meats from. For eating out, I guess I'm not as careful, as the article points out, the farms you see in PETA ads and documentaries are the exception rather than the rule, and most animals are treated far, far better.

dreaminventor January 5 2011, 20:32:52 UTC

Whole Foods often carries "Free Range No Cruelty" Meats. These are really high quality as well. You can also find Lamb, Mutton, Duck (though I'm not sure what kind or brand), and a wide selection of Fish. I live near a Russian food market that has a small butcher I'm curious about, and the meat from some of the strip is almost all of local origin (but ethics is more of a mystery).

(The comment has been removed)

bubblingbeebles January 5 2011, 17:14:43 UTC

i sort of make a point about not spending a bunch of effort on morality, but i do at least like being aware of stuff, so i will try to take a look.

sleepsong January 5 2011, 19:44:04 UTC

P.S. Unrelated, but I want to make these for you guys some time: http://www.npr.org/2011/01/04/132627711/the-art-of-the-danish-open-face-sandwich

bubblingbeebles January 5 2011, 19:49:01 UTC

eeee those are so PRETTY! if you make them to look half as good... ^_^

dreaminventor January 5 2011, 20:25:29 UTC

You can often ask a restaurant about the origin of their meat (to answer your eating out question) and the waiter/waitress is happy to oblige. While I was waitressing I would often go back to the kitchen and find out if the salmon was wild caught or farmed, and answer other such questions upon request. Restaurants also take suggestion for carrying better quality, and more sellable products depending on their crowd - especially if they tend to have a lot of ethically conscious individuals come in. This is just something where you leave a note on the table at a restaurant saying "I would have gotten ____ if it was ____" if you really like the restaurant and the waitress will pass it on to the manager, especially if you are a regular customer/high paying customer.

(hint: bartenders do the same with certain kinds of liquor. If you're looking for a really high end liquor that isn't at your bar, and you would like to see it, they will get it imported for you.)

bubblingbeebles January 5 2011, 22:35:43 UTC

that's a lot too much effort for me. i'd hate to interrupt the flow of the order-taking, and it probably wouldn't change anything anyway. little steps.

hvincent January 6 2011, 05:40:13 UTC

i think my stance is pretty similar to yours; i am mostly unwilling to go that far out of my way to only consume ethically produced meat. i do feel kind of bad that there exist farms that are really, really bad about how they treat the animals, but really. i am pretty sure that most meat that i eat comes from farms that are at least pretty okay at how the meat is raised. animals that are healthy and well cared for generally produce higher quality meat. the eggs marked free range/organic from trader joes look and taste different from the dirt cheap generic brand giant eagle eggs. i have been to really good farms and eaten things they have produced, so i know they exist, and that is enough to counter all the peta flyers i have had stuffed into my face ( ... )