More on Foie Gras

May 20, 2012 by annasalts

I didn’t really want to get into a tit-for-tat debate about foie gras but someone called Sam has left a lengthy comment on my last blog post which I am responding to in the hope it clarifies my point of view.

This is what Sam has to say:

As a share holder of course you are going to side with the restaurant and the practice of force feeding geese , despite not having any real evidence to back up your assertions that this is humane and the geese are all good with it. I dont care how much you gloss it over it is still cruelty and by the way sow stalls will be illegal from 2015 in NZ .
You say these people are “bullying” the restaurant , they have a right to protest and id hardly call standing peacefully with a few placards handing out leaflets “bullying” more like exercising ones right to freedom of expression in NZ. This group have sent letters to two food places in Wellington regarding Foie gras and thats all that was needed for them to take it off the shelves . If they were to protest the french embassy that would have no effect at all and not be informing potential eaters of this product , by the way the French government has made it illegal to even have vegetarian options in their schools so they would be wasting their time trying to lobby the french government.

This is my response:

Dear Sam,

Firstly I don’t say that all foie gras farming is humane and I certainly don’t “gloss over” the appalling treatment of birds in some factory farms. I have in fact, directed people towards YouTube and clips that document what I call the shameful side of foie gras. However, I also know from my own experience (and that is evidence enough for me) that this is not the norm. All the foie-gras farms I’ve seen are tidy humane places where the birds free-range on pasture until the gavage period at which stage they’re penned in groups with lots of room to move. The force-feeding is quick and the birds are not at all upset by it. Ducks and geese are not humans, they are designed to take big lumps of food straight down their necks – have you ever watched a water bird swallow a whole fish?

My point is that there are good and bad farmers. The anti-foie gras brigade choose to back up their view by focusing on the worst-case factory farms that treat their birds badly. This is like condemning all beef farming because some operators confine cattle on feedlots, or saying people shouldn’t eat pork because some pig farmers keep pigs in horrible conditions. Why do you think foie gras is any different? Don’t you think that a better response is for restaurants and consumers to support good producers by buying animal products from farms with good welfare and environmental standards – whether it be pork, eggs, beef or foie-gras? This is the policy at Le Canard.

However, the main point of my blog post was to object to the bullying behaviour of the people who have been protesting outside Le Canard restaurant every weekend for the last six months. You object to my use of the term ‘bullying’. What else do you call the behaviour of people who will not respect the opinions of others and who use intimidating tactics to make the object of their protest behave in the way they see fit? Six months of leafleting customers and waving placards outside the restaurant – not to mention the xenophobic phone calls, and demands that the chef alter his menu – certainly fits my definition of bullying.

You seem to think that because the activists are not breaking the law by their protest action, it’s OK. Have you considered that there are also no laws against the cyber-bullying that has driven some young people to suicide? Bullying may be legal but it’s not morally acceptable. Clearly, the protestors’ unspoken threat is: take foie gras off the menu or we will do our best to destroy your business. I find it bizarre that you can support the protestors’ right to freedom of expression but not the chef’s right to choose what he puts on his menu.

Anna

12 Responses

on May 23, 2012 at 11:40 am | Reply Joelle GORRIA

I’m French and I do agree with all what Anna wrote. All is said and well said, Thank you Anna for having been clear in your post mostly because you are well informed about the way Foie gras is made in France.
It seems that certain people in NZ do respect more the ducks and the geese than the customers and the chef of the restaurant …
on May 27, 2012 at 10:22 am | Reply tania

I agree that the word Bully is controversial. Let’s look at the definition for a moment:

Wikipedia:
Bullying is a form of aggressive behavior manifested by the use of force or coercion to affect others, particularly when the behavior is habitual and involves an imbalance of power. It can include verbal harassment, physical assault or coercion and may be directed repeatedly towards particular victims, perhaps on grounds of race, religion, gender, sexuality, or ability.[2][3] The “imbalance of power” may be social power and/or physical power. The victim of bullying is sometimes referred to as a “target”.

Bullying consists of three basic types of abuse – emotional, verbal, and physical. It typically involves subtle methods of coercion such as intimidation.

The Free Dictionary:
bul·ly 1 (bl)
n. pl. bul·lies
1. A person who is habitually cruel or overbearing, especially to smaller or weaker people.

Now let’s stop and think. Who is bullying who? Could you really characterize the volunteers speaking up for the ducks and geese as being the stronger party? How do they have the “power” as the definition suggests?
- on May 27, 2012 at 10:45 am | Reply annasalts
  
  The protestors action certainly fits your definition of verbal and emotional abuse, just as some of the phone calls, which have been recorded, constitute racial abuse. But I think you should also consider that bullying is also defined by the affect (mental or physical) it has on the victim The fact that the chef feels intimidated by this group is further evidence that he is indeed being bullied.
  However, I don’t expect the protestors will ever admit to this, when did a bully ever admit to being a bully?
  It’s seems I’ve struck a nerve with my accusation. Interesting.
- on May 27, 2012 at 11:12 am | Reply annasalts
  
  Tania, I think you should be upfront about being one of the activists. It’s not honest to make comments without stating your affiliations, especially when it is entirely relevant to this discussion.
on May 27, 2012 at 1:20 pm | Reply annasalts

This debate now closed. If activists want to make further comments I suggest they do it through other outlets and refrain from personal or slanderous remarks.
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