“Foie gras is sold as an expensive ‘delicacy’ in some restaurants and shops, but no one pays a higher price for foie gras than the ducks and geese who are abused and killed to make it.” — Kate Winslet, PETA
Delicacy of despair… This week Kate Winslet joined the ranks of PETA for a campaign that speaks out on behalf of ducks and geese — the victims of a barbaric process necessary for the production of foie gras. In the video, the Oscar-winning actress walks viewers through the gruesome behind-the-scenes making of the well-known French gastronomic patrimony. The message was sent directly to specific retailers including Fortnum & Mason in London and El Corte Ingles in Madrid. PETA India will also do a major PR push, as the dish is a favorite among Indian hotel menus such as the Taj and the Oberoi,
Fine dining, really?… Although foie gras is considered a gourmet specialty, and an expensive one at that, further investigation suggests that maybe it’s not so fancy. To achieve the rich, buttery flavor, birds are force-fed enormous amounts of food through metal tubes until their livers are engorged 10 times their normal size. If they even survive the brutal feeding, they are then killed for their diseased livers… Yum?
16 countries, the Terminator and James Bond can’t be wrong… The process is considered so cruel that many places have banned the production of the fatty delicacy altogether — UK, Germany, the Czech Republic, Finland, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark and Israel to name a few. Even Governor Schwarzenegger outlawed the stuff in the great state of California in 2004. And, Sir Roger Moore filmed his own anti-foie gras PSA, and we don’t think you want to challenge a knight.
Double takes…
- Watch Kate’s video (at your own risk)
- Take the No Foie Gras Pledge
Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons.