Is a cow a serial killer for each blade of grass it eats? Is a mosquito morally bankrupt for the millions it has killed with malaria while feeding? No, and we murder the little bastards in the billions. So is it a crime against humanity for you to order a seared steak? In my opinion, no.
Pristine supermarkets hide these gory crime scenes, allowing us to hide from ourselves. We have two eyes facing forward, compete for sex and day-to-day survival. Today we call it work. Yesterday if you ran faster than your friend we called it evolution (or lunch from the saber tooth tiger’s viewpoint). As long as humans compete, we will be a meat eating species. The instinct and act of eating like our ancestors have for millions of years is not a crime.
This doesn’t mean that P.E.T.A.’s vegan bias is inherently right or wrong with respect to foie gras. Their opponents argue that P.E.T.A. is less about accurate information and more about propaganda. But even if this is true, a broken clock is still right twice a day.
P.E.T.A.’s issue with foie gras can be broken down into two parts:
1 – Gavage – Force-feeding animals is cruel and unusual punishment a.k.a. wrong.
2 – Animal Treatment – Outside of the practice of gavage, the animals are still being treated in an unacceptable manner.
But ignoring the “meat is murder” argument, do P.E.T.A.’s other claims have merit? First, let’s start with an explanation of what foie gras is. Foie gras is the liver of a male duck or goose that has stored an abnormal amount of fat. The duck’s liver cells are highly efficient at converting sugar into fat. Foods rich in sugar like corn accentuate this process. And the easier the food is for the bird to digest (finely milled), the more efficient the digestive system and liver become.
But to get the liver to store so much fat, the Drake (male duck) needs to eat much more than normal. So how does this work? Luckily P.E.T.A. created a visual aid that explains this.
P.E.T.A.’s argument is that gavage is the same as an involuntary blow-job, or food rape. And if you’ve ever seen or been the partner gagging on a penis, now imagine this happening 24 times over the course of 5 days. After two weeks of being force fed corn, a duck’s liver goes from weighing around 175g to almost triple that. You can now physically see their liver distending from their body.
As long as humans compete, we will be a meat eating species. The instinct and act of eating like our ancestors have for millions of years is not a crime.
P.E.T.A. hasn’t been shy about sharing images like the one above. So when my Uber driver finally drops me off at Les Fermes, suffice to say I have lots of questions. And it turns out that Monsieur Nassans is from the Basque region of France famous for foie gras, and has worked in the industry for decades. We chat for a bit before touring the facility.
He explains that a foie gras processing facility has three parts. First there is the hatchery. Muscovite Drakes (males) and the noisier Peking duck (females) are bred together to create a moulard duckling. When I say bred, I mean artificially inseminated.
Different species in the hatchery don’t like each other, and sadly the open bar for the Drakes only serves corn, and more corn. And having a metal rod stuck up their bottom twice a week for insemination can’t put them in the best of moods.
Like a mule, moulards are sterile. These chicks are raised in the hatchery for 90 days. During this time each baby duck is given three to four square feet of space (about 0.3 meters). In contrast, baby chickens in the poultry industry are only given one square foot of space. To be clear, only the baby Drakes are given three to four square feet, since the females are all dead. Though some foie facilities will apparently harvest both male and female livers.
About 84 to 90 days into the baby duck’s life, Gavage is started. A tube is shoved down the bird’s throat 25 times in a row, and corn millet is pumped down it. It looks like an advanced interrogation technique for waterboarding duck terrorists. These involuntary feedings occur over the course of 12 and 1⁄2 days.
Corn quality here is very important, and it turns out that Montreal’s Saint-Louis- de-Gonzague soil is ideal for Corne Dente or Dent Corn. These corn cob kernels are round shaped but for a dent on top (resembling a baby’s teeth). Gavage exploits the capacity of the moulard’s liver cell’s capacity to stock sugar. And Corne Dente in particular has the best sugars for poultry.