Michael Vick is NOT Inhumane

Wed., Aug. 22 2007 at 6:00 AM

Michael Vick is not inhumane.

At least not if we employ the reasoning used by members of the Miami Chef’s Club, a group of local toques who meet over food and drink at one another’s establishments. As reported in the Herald (Tropical Life, August 16th), “some of the chefs resented that critics call foie gras production ‘inhumane,’ reasoning that geese are food animals, not humans.”

Maybe had they put down their cookbooks for a minute and checked out a dictionary, they’d learn that being humane means “having the good qualities of human beings, as kindness, mercy, or compassion.” To be inhumane is to lack such attributes -- even if it is towards animals. And even if it is because these chefs really really like the way foie gras tastes.

Who are these brutish culinarians? As we don’t know who was at this particular gathering where the offending words were spoken, I’ll list all club members and invite those who wish to disassociate themselves from such sentiments to write in. I promise to print the responses.

Members: Tim Andriola (Timo); Tom Azar (Emeril’s); Sean Bernal (Oceannaire); Michael Bloise (Wish); Giancarla Bodoni (Escopazzo, but probably not her -- she doesn’t serve foie gras); Clay Conley (Azul); Malka Espinel (Johnny V); Michael Gilligan (Atrio); Cindy Hutson (Ortanique); Michael Jacobs (Grass); Dewey and Dale LoSasso (North One 10); Dean James Max (3030 Ocean); Jason McClain (8 1/2); Michael Schwartz (Michael’s Genuine); Eric Scott (Ortanique); Delius Shirley (Ortanique); Jesse Souza (Chispa); Adam Votaw (formerly Chispa). -- Lee Klein

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Alright Lee, after reading your comment I'll give it to you that you're cool and hip, but just kinda humane.
The AVMA has become nothing more than a front group for the agribusiness industry and will say and do anything that agribusiness wants it to. Its objectivity has been corrupted by cash. Don't think for a second that AVMA signing off on anything means that something is "humane." All it means is that its corporate supporters are making money off it. Foie gras requires animals to be diseased -- it is quite literally the byproduct of disease, and without disease there is no foie gras. If your liver distended to ten times its normal size, tell me how fun that would be for you. There is no excuse for foie gras and the fact that AVMA tacitly supports it only reveals how eroded its purported objectivity has become.
Like Chef Thomas Keller said yes Goose and duck are food for comsumption ,and they have been for the geese back into the time of the Egyptian. The problem with all these Chefs who think they are GOD,who think they have reinvented the Gastronomie,they are full of themselves.They should worry more about the kind of food they eat in the US,rather than to worry about Goose living condition.Before talking get educated about the subject.Most of you in these kitchen can even make a decent terrine the Foie gras,that why most of the Foie gras you find on your copy cat menu is a Torchon. To conclude,I believe that all of you are going soon to become Vegetarian,cause Beef,pork,chicken,fish,shrimpall of it is produce ,raise for a quick death.Have great day. _Patrick Miami
As a member of the class that the public would rather see abused, I have to take exception...no one was as outraged when (fill in the blank) beat, threatened, shot, mauled (choose one) his girlfriend, wife, ex-wife, favorite pole-dancer.... if any of the folks screeching about cruelty to geese or ducks saw how their chicken, beef, or for that matter, shoes, belts, etc....were made and were HONEST about it, they would say this... we draw lines, some of us choose not to judge others by them some of us choose not to dictate what others should do, eat, enjoy, decry... and some of us smell hypocrisy a mile away... make your choices but be honest about what they are and are not. Jacqueline Church gourmetfood (dot) suite101 (dot) com leatherdistrictgourmet (dot) blogspot (dot) com
Take a collective deep breath, you wacky foie gras fanatics. I am not passing judgement on the serving or eating of goose or duck livers. Nor am I drawing a moral parallel between viciously killing dogs and fattening birds. I merely wanted to correct the notion that being abusive to animals doesn't qualify as being inhumane. A person who is excrutiatingly cruel to dogs, or regularly cruel to ducks, or mildly cruel to kittens is acting, by the definition cited in my blog, in an inhumane way. Whatever you think of foie gras, and notwithstanding various abuses that take place at foie gras farms, forcing an unnatural amount of food down an animals' throat until their liver bloats to abnormal proportions -- merely for profit -- is not exhibiting kindness, mercy, or compassion. And Ed: That other animals in our food chain are treated even worse is as true as it is tragic, and I have commented on this in the past. You're right about the other stuff, too: I am cool, hip, and soooo humane. Lee
Lee: Of course, geese are uniquely suited to foie gras production. Their livers naturally expand in size every winter; their gullets are designed to accomdate large and awkwardly-shaped objects. I forget whether it was "Best Science Writing 2006" or "Best Food Writing 2006," but there was a fantastic article in there about a scientific study of geese who underwent pre-slaughter gavage. Even after weeks of gavage, they did not display signs of distress when presented with the gavage tubes. They did register distress when handled or exposed to any other ordinarily stressful stimuli. One's gotta figure that either a) the study was flawed, or b) geese are not humans, and don't respond to things in exactly the way humans would. - BKT
As most chefs know, the truth is very different from the anti-foie gras disinformation. Over the last four years, the American Veterinary Medical Association has studied the science, inspected foie gras farms, and rejected claims that the ducks raised for foie gras are treated inhumanely. The most detailed scientific study of foie gras farming was published in June 2004 in the World's Poultry Science Journal. That scientific journal concluded that foie gras is, in terms of animal welfare, a "non-pathological and non-harmful product." For more information, see: http://www.artisanfarmers.org/
Good piece, for a vegan.
I was at a party one time and the hostess had a giant plate of foie gras as one of the appetizers. A very funny friend of mine from south Georgia came up to me and said: "You know the difference between that plate of foie gras and a big pile of dog sh*t?" Of course I said "No". He said "In 3 days the pile of dog sh*t will turn white and stop stinking". Every time I see foie gras now I crack up anew and share that comment with someone I think might appreciate it. Enjoy!
Are you kidding me? You're singling these chefs out because of their fondness for foie gras? I'll bet you almost anything that the geese in Sonoma and Hudson Valley used to make foie gras are treated infintely better than the chicken that made up your McNuggets for lunch. Give me a break and get some scope on the matter. Compare the number of geese used to make foie gras in this country versus the amount of chicken and beef that comes from farms whose conditions are thousands times worse and I'd be surprised if it hit even 1%. Singling out those 10 or so chefs here who use foie gras versus the thousands of others that use meat from factory torture farms is inane and irresponsible. Why don't you go after them? Why, because it's not as hip as going after foie gras users. You're just jumping on the anti-foie gras bandwagon to seem cool and hip and sooo humane.
How can you compare brutally murdering a domesticated animal with eating a culinary delicasy that has been traced back in history to 2400 BC? Yes geese are food animals, like it or not, and if you have a problem with it dont eat it! Do we not feed chickens, cows, pigs, etc. until they are ready for slaughter for us to eat? What's the difference...
Wise up. No one cares about geese. It doesn't matter if their beaks are torn out while they squawk in pain. It matters not if their feathers are plucked one by one while they are tied to a burning stake. What we love are dogs. Dogs dogs dogs! Dogs are better than all other animals combined. You can kill every other animal on the planet with gruesome torture, but don't even think about harming a dog. We don't care if dogs lick anus all day, we still want dog kisses. We want them sleeping in our bed, soiling our expensive SUVs...we want dogs! Even if they were bred for fighting and killing, like pit bulls, we still want dogs! If we had to choose between the lives of adults or children versus dogs, we'd choose dogs. Dogs!!