Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Response to a "Foie Gras" Hater

This is in reply to a meat hater...oops! I mean "Foie" hater...but really what's the difference?! The person is Amy Rebecca, a blogger. The following is a rant mostly how she is appalled by the mudslinging and people being insulted by foie gras proponents. The story is here LAist ...


I am truly appalled at the mud slinging and verbal harassment that the pro foie gras chefs resorted to. I have not been as involved in the fight to ban foie gras, but after participating in the demonstration outside Melisse and witnessing the way they treat people, I'm all in. After reading all of the comments on the Facebook event, I decided to take screen shots and document what these people were saying. After I told Chef Dan Moody (Daniel Rogers on Facebook) to behave like a gentleman, hewrote a preemptive blog accusing me of breaking the law. I guess Dan didn't know I'm a blogger and I don't take shit from anyone. As much as I truly despise everything about foie gras and the killing and torturing of any animal, I would never attack the opposition in such a crude, vindictive way. What I say to my friends is one thing, but what I say online is strategic. Anything you write online can come back and bite you. I know I'm fighting for what's right and I don't need to fight dirty. I have the truth on my side. I know that foie gras will get banned, and these online assaults are a testament that the other side is scared. Bullying is always done out of fear and insecurity. This is a classic case. What I find highly inappropriate is that Dan, a chef and businessman, would choose to represent himself and the content of his character in such a negative light. If foie gras really isn't bad, then why would they need to call us names? Now I highlight Dan because he was the most vicious and vocal of the lot, but there were others. After a pro foie gras twitter account retweeted me, another swarm of chefs and foie gras lovers began attacking me online. Why are they so defensive? Do they not realize they're fighting for diseased liver?!Chris Liberti decided to take it upon himself to throw every possible derogatory term and logical fallacy he could think of on twitter. How is this kind of childish behavior going to help the pro foie gras cause? It takes a certain type of person to advocate for such horrific animal cruelty. It's no wonder why they're throwing such verbally abusive attacks at me. I'm asking Dan Moody to apologize for his incredibly rude remarks, not only to myself, but to the other women on Facebook who were attacked. According to his website, "Chef Dan believes that food and the act of cooking are also important ways of expressing love, showing hospitality and ultimately bringing people together." I beg to differ. I ask people to boycott Dan Moody until he learns to have respect and compassion for other people and animals.

Here is my response: 


Amy, that was the most brilliantly organized pile of disingenuous babble I have ever read.
Nicely played "Women of FB" card...after telling readers "I don't take shit from anyone!" of course this was after poor little ole you asked someone to behave like a gentleman...So which are you? A wounded fragile flower "Woman of FB"... Or a bad assed blogger with a mouth like a sailor? You can't have it both ways.

What you don't know about waterfowl livers astounds me, and I'd venture to guess you don't bother to do any research...so allow me to enlighten you. The USDA specifically prevents "diseased" livers from entering the food system and has gone as far as to say that enlarged waterfowl livers are NOT diseased. But why mess up a nice little story with facts. So much for having truth on your side.

I might be more inclined to be against Foie Gras if animals were raised solely for the liver and then everything else was discarded... but it's not. Every part of the animal is used...from the feathers to the meat. This brings me to the real reason you're hiding behind the "Ban on Foie"...The best part is...you said it yourself.

"... the killing... of any animal..." You threw in torture as an afterthought, but I and everybody else... knew what you meant. That's fine that you don't want animals to die for the sake of human consumption.

It's a rational thought to have and people grapple with this every day. But don't drape yourself in the fabric of a"just cause" and pretend it has to do with suffering and torture, because you have seen plenty of film footage showing you this isn't the case. Instead you'd rather force your beliefs of a "Meat Free World" on everybody, disguising it as a fight for poor cute little ducks. Who wouldn't get behind that...right?!

So in the end, let us have rational, honest discourse using facts. Let's not resort to verbally abusive attacks against each other or attacks against others families or loved ones as has been done. But most of all, let us all be honest and call this what it really is... a fight for the right to eat meat. Meat of any kind...The lucky ducks just happen to be a cute animal. Where is the outrage over grass fed beef?!

Foie is just one little battle for the greater cause and it's a slippery slope...let's not go down it. Because in the future after all the meat has been banned, somebody might just want to ban you from eating fiddleheads because of the screaming they hear when the fiddleheads are picked...and that someone is going to be me...someone get me some vinegar to go with these screaming fiddleheads...


As an afterthought to my response...The fact that she asked people to boycott a restaurant which would not only effect the owner and Chef... but also all of the restaurant's employees...just goes to show how compassionate these people really are. I pick on Amy but in all fairness it's not just her who feel this way. It's a vast majority of the so called "anti foie" people.

Most people who think they are anti foie are so, because they saw some tired film footage the media pulls out every time Foie is protested. We have all seen it, of the birds in cages or a dead duck lying on a dirty floor in some dark barn. I mean if that's all I knew of foie gras, I'd be against it too. Fortunately for me I have seen places like Hudson Valley Foie Gras and have seen the light...as in well lit barns with well cared for ducks in a clean environment.

If the anti foie gras folks were honest with themselves and everyone else, they would show how these ducks are truly raised and slaughtered, then let people decide for themselves. But that wouldn't help their cause would it? I'm not trying to force people to eat foie gras. It's not for everyone, and if they decide not to eat it then so be it. But if you decide to eat it, these people would like to force you not to...even if that means verbal or physical attacks. Hmmm, harming humans in defense of ducks...how truly sad. 

Before you decide if you're for or against it... get the facts, and maybe visit a place like Hudson Valley Foie Gras. And before you listen to some person tell for the millionth time how ducks are fed having a metal funnel jammed down a ducks throat, ask yourself this question.... are these anti foie people stuffing food down their own throats with plastic....or metal utensils? The metal funnels by the way, do not puncture the ducks esophagus and they can breath fine...it's how they are able to swallow fish whole in the wild.


So thanks Amy for showing me this side of you. I'd like to say it was enlightening.... but in the end, it was just more of the same. 

12 comments:

  1. I think there are more positive and effective ways to get the "vegetarian"/"meat free lifestyle" message accross.

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    1. couldn't agree more "M" you definitely get it... thanks for reading.

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  2. As Larry the Cable Guy has said Pav, You can't fix stupid. And these animal rights people are flat out stupid.

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    1. so open minded their brains fell out buddy! Thanks for reading my man!

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  3. Yay!!! It's all about facts, too bad some people seem to "forget" some most important facts because otherwise they'd realize they're "fightning" thin air... I'd say let's go for round two!! (sarcastic tone...hehe)

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    1. Well some folks just choose to ignore the facts Hanneke. They're right and that's all they want to believe, facts be damned! Thanks for reading Mooi!

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  4. Well said.

    Amy also wrote: "Bullying is always done out of fear and insecurity."

    Yet, isn't that exactly what she was attempting to do with her diatribe? Are words like "torture", "killing" (of animals) not an attempt to emotionally bully others to take up her "boycott" cause?

    I like meat. I enjoy a good steak. Leg of lamb I'd fight you for. If the budget would allow for Foie, I'd happily make a habit of including that in a number of meals, too.

    For crying out loud, if she doesn't wish to eat it, she doesn't have to, but this carry-on of hers (and others like her) of trying to bully others into changing their diets to suit her beliefs has moved beyond the ridiculous to the absurd.

    She, and other like her, need to keep their eyes on their own plates and their noses out of others' business.

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    1. That's exactly right Noeleen. I have a feeling this "ban" will go the way of the Chicago Ban...one can only hope. These folks need to keep their nose out of my grocery bag... you never know if I removed the rubber bands from the lobsters!

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  5. I've spoken with so many of them at the protests. I won't say they're a rational bunch, but some of them can be civil.

    They do a great job on only speaking about foie, which to the uninformed does seem cruel (not the case). But the truth is, they think all meat consumption as inhumane and would like to get rid of it entirely.

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    1. Exactly right Roddy...well said! Thanks for reading!

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  6. There's no gag reflex. Unlike humans who can choke because a section of throat is used for BOTH breathing and eating, ducks breathe through a completely different passageway from eating, one that right leads under the tongue that's perfectly exposed during feeding. In other words, choking is a human experience, and that's pretty much the cause of this mislead campaign against foie gras based on our need to simplify anthropomorphic experiences. It's based on misinformation at that!

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    1. Mughound, there are so many things the "Anit-Foie" say that are just out and out bullshit that it's hard to even know where to start... and when you try to use reason, logic and just plain fact... they simply resort to name calling and/or conjecture. Thanks for reading...

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