savage gavage

[bubblingbeebles]

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

Comments

[hvincent]

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.

i think mostly my tactic for food i am cooking myself is strip district (wholey's for seafood and poultry, strip district meats for beef and pork); failing that, trader joe's. i have never actually shopped at whole foods, and i am pretty unwilling to eat most of the stuff from giant eagle (in a really desperate pinch, their kosher or organic-labeled stuff generally is okay). i don't really sweat it that much when i'm eating out, but i tend to avoid big chains in general since i believe they are more likely to source from factory farms; i know fuddle and uncle sam's (and consequently, probably joe mama's) sources almost exclusively from the restaurant wholesale versions of all the strip district shops.

basically, i operate under the assumption that meat that tastes like meat is more likely to have had an okay life when it was alive, but i don't really worry about it too much if i accidentally/occasionally eat meat that was abused somewhere down the line. people gotta eat to live. if i could live entirely off hunting and gathering, i would; failing that, i try to eat ethically when i am presented with options, but i don't lose sleep if i don't.

incidentally, i have never had foie gras, but i love veal and don't feel bad that i am consuming baby cows. the less time it's been alive, the less time it's suffered!