Californians all butthurt about Fois Gras.

I can sympathise in that I don't think a nanny state (literally in this case) should go about banning things, much better to educate people and let them make their own choices ...

but, you should seriously find another cause to get behind. The way they farm this stuff is fucking disgusting.

oops - should be in off-topic and now not letting me delete it. If a mod could move ...

thx

also : can't spell Foie Gras.

Why should I google Fois Gras to understand what you're talking about?

I never had it, must be a horrible life for those poor birds. But then again, I have often eaten really cheap chicken. I guess they arent much better off.

There is apparently a loophole. The Presidio Social Club claims to be exempt because it is located on federal land.

http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/2012/07/presidio-restaurant-gets-around-state-foie-gras-ban

@AhmadMetallic: It's fatty goose liver I believe. It was banned in California effective July 1st (even though the law banning it was signed 8 years ago). I absolutely disagree with altering laws and setting their start date to be so far down the road that the government can't be held accountable but that's a different issue. The issue with foie gras is that animal rights activists believe growing it is painful for the animal due to the liver problems they get.

@AhmadMetallic said:

Why should I google Fois Gras to understand what you're talking about?

Do you need a babysitter for every thread?

@AhmadMetallic said:

Why should I google Fois Gras to understand what you're talking about?

If that is a zinger on my misspelling, then nice one.

If you are genuinely interested, it involves California banning the sale of goose/duck livers due to concerns about how animals are cruelly force fed in it's production.

It takes like two seconds to google 'Fois Gras California' and the top link is a news article . . .

I agree with it being banned. It's disgusting, like you said. I like the idea of educating people on how something is farmed and then letting them make their own choice, but I can't help but feel anyone who still decides to eat it then deserves this to happen to them:

"I'd like to sit all 100 of them down and have duck and goose fat - better yet, dry oatmeal - shoved down their throats over and over and over again," he told the San Francisco Chronicle in April.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/executive-style/culture/lawsuit-challenges-us-foie-gras-ban-20120710-21t0t.html#ixzz20Dz7AYb2

Not really a nanny state when it's protecting someone who can't protect themselves. Sorta like claiming it's a nanny state that you want the police to protect you from criminals.

Like I say, I am no PETA lover but the liberals need to find a better poster child. Something everyone can get behind.

It is like defending free speech - which I believe in and wish my country had - by championing the cause of racists.

So why was it banned ?

Butthurt Californians?.. Breaking news!

@Mageman said:

So why was it banned ?

Apparently, it hurts the animals.

We'll next see them banning the practice of making steers.

They tried that in Chicago but then everyone realized we would be denied stuff like this:

A shame for California. What's next, beef?

I'd sarcastically ask why anyone could be against the force-feeding of animals for slaughter, but we're already raising them en-masse for the purpose of killing and eating them.

I support animal death, but not animal torture. Animals would eat us at their pleasure if they ruled the world. But I wouldn't want to be force fed and slave labored in order to become more economically viable for them.

I support stuff that prevents animal suffering (making any living thing suffer erodes your humanity), but PETA goes too far. We are the dominant species, we'll eat whatever we please.

@Mageman said:

So why was it banned ?

Yea, can somebody actually post a synopsis of what's been going on this case?

Guys, I've never eaten anything Foie Gras and never really understood what it meant until now, but it took me two seconds to figure out what was going on thanks to this thing called the internet, which you're using right now.

As a native frenchman, I think its pretty hilarious that everyone goes up in arms about a technique that certainly isint exactly pleasant but in my mind is a hell of alot more "ethical" then the garbage meat America exports across the world in the form of fast food and other snacking food.

Hell, I wish my country would ban slim jims but thats never going to happen, if Californians actually want to ban something thats unethical, they should focus on the massive industrial cow/pig/chicken farms instead of the tiny niche Fois Gras industry.

@frenchy789 said:

As a native frenchman, I think its pretty hilarious that everyone goes up in arms about a technique that certainly isint exactly pleasant but in my mind is a hell of alot more "ethical" then the garbage meat America exports across the world in the form of fast food and other snacking food.

Hell, I wish my country would ban slim jims but thats never going to happen, if Californians actually want to ban something thats unethical, they should focus on the massive industrial cow/pig/chicken farms instead of the tiny niche Fois Gras industry.

I think it's exactly as ethical, which means not ethical at all. I'm not against the entirely necessary process of consuming other animals, as it's what we've become biologically dependent upon to survive as a species, but the added torture of force-feeding the animal is exactly as offensive as imprisoning it in a cramped space and feeding it only the essentials of survival until it's big enough to slaughter and sell for the maximum price.

And I can't believe I'm three posts in on this debate on a video game website.

If you want to get deeper into it, I'm also a believer in human over-population, which is the root of the problem.

@scalpel said:

@AhmadMetallic said:

Why should I google Fois Gras to understand what you're talking about?

Do you need a babysitter for every thread?

NANNYMOD OBAMATHREADS TAKES AWAY OUR RIGHTS TO NOT GIVE FUCKS

So Kobe Beef should be banned as well then, according to some arguments here.

TL;DR version why they want it banned.

(not sure how the process of slim jims are similar but i'm not french)

@Mageman said:

So why was it banned ?

The animals are being constantly forcefed feed that's bad for them, to make their livers fatty and swollen (which is what fois gras is made of).

Of course, the reason this is being banned is because it affects a relatively small number of people. Because, while not as extreme as this, the average industrial farm animal lives a pretty miserable existence too, getting fed corn (which makes them sick) because it's cheap, standing around in a tiny booth all day in its own refuse, and pumped full of antibiotics and hormones to make it grow in spite of the environment it's living in. But doing something about that would actually impact a good majority of people, both consumers and business owners, so it's much easier to pretend they're all out in grassy fields, lounging about in the sun.

Foie Gras is pretty good

@LTSmash: Foie gras is incredibly delicious. I'm actually going to be heading to Chicago on Friday and already had plans to stop at Hot Doug's for that very item.

I love the extremes people are talking in over this (in general, not talking about this thread in particular). If you're against it, you're a hippie. If you're for it, you're an animal torturer. The obsession with childish mudslinging is more disturbing than any amount of forcefeeding.

http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_barber_s_surprising_foie_gras_parable.html

I'm just going to stick with New Zealand cow and Sheep where seeing them sitting in a field is obscenely easy and attempts to raise them indoors is immediately shot down due to public outrage.

Foie gras is fantastic. Last time I was in France my friend got us reservations at some fancy Michelin star place and one of the courses was foie gras baked inside some super fluffy pastry shaped like a flame. Magnificent I tell you.

Meat is pretty cool.

@alternate said:

I can sympathise in that I don't think a nanny state (literally in this case) should go about banning things, much better to educate people and let them make their own choices ...

but, you should seriously find another cause to get behind. The way they farm this stuff is fucking disgusting.

It's California, dude. Common sense isn't really something that is practiced there, at least not by the Government. When it comes to the whole green-tree-hugger-loony thing, California is #1 in the world.

Gotta love that gavage.

its not about a nanny state. its about justifying animal cruelty.

The market should dictate it. Put the information out and if people decide they do not approve, those places cease to exist once they stop making money. But this is America and most things here stopped making sense long ago.

Yes, the process is not pleasant for the bird but frankly the picture of the grandpa manually doing it at least raises the human interaction with the final product, which cannot be said about factory farming.

It takes like two seconds to google 'Fois Gras California' and the top link is a news article . . .

I agree with it being banned. It's disgusting, like you said. I like the idea of educating people on how something is farmed and then letting them make their own choice, but I can't help but feel anyone who still decides to eat it then deserves this to happen to them:

"I'd like to sit all 100 of them down and have duck and goose fat - better yet, dry oatmeal - shoved down their throats over and over and over again," he told the San Francisco Chronicle in April.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/executive-style/culture/lawsuit-challenges-us-foie-gras-ban-20120710-21t0t.html#ixzz20Dz7AYb2

Silly, silly law.

Animals are raised to be eaten. Foie gras is delicious. So I don't see any reason to stop someone from eating it, just because it might hurt the feelings of animals that are going to be killed for food later anyhow. I'm pretty sure that animals don't have feelings anyway, but that's another discussion.

There are real problems with humans that these people could be advocating for instead of defending some ducks.

I'm Californian, I'm not butthurt.

@Hunkulese said:

I sure hope your a vegetarian. Very stupid law. How can they pass this and continue to allow the sale of beef and chicken? We grow animals for the sole purpose of slaughtering them so we can eat them and I'm fairly certain the animal isn't going to be fine with the whole slaughtering thing because we give them the occasional hug.

This law was feasible because it affects a product that relatively few eat and it isn't a particularly large part of their diet. That said, comparing it to other meat product is a false equivalency - it's fully possible to raise cows and other farm animals in a reasonably comfortable and healthy manner, where they'll live a fine life up until a quick and painless death. Fois gras production is however based on making the animal sick, and its suffering is unavoidable.

@Hunkulese:Nope, but I am a vegan.

@BlackLagoon said:

@Mageman said:

So why was it banned ?

The animals are being constantly forcefed feed that's bad for them, to make their livers fatty and swollen (which is what fois gras is made of).

Of course, the reason this is being banned is because it affects a relatively small number of people. Because, while not as extreme as this, the average industrial farm animal lives a pretty miserable existence too, getting fed corn (which makes them sick) because it's cheap, standing around in a tiny booth all day in its own refuse, and pumped full of antibiotics and hormones to make it grow in spite of the environment it's living in. But doing something about that would actually impact a good majority of people, both consumers and business owners, so it's much easier to pretend they're all out in grassy fields, lounging about in the sun.

You are so right about this. Most people are not against slaughtering animals for meat, but animals are being tortured daily just so that we can have the cheapest meat possible. We don't want to give up on cheap chicken and beef, so we let that one slide. Foie grass is an easy thing to get upset about because it's a luxury item that is easy to pass on and rally against, so we feel a little better about ourselves.

That said, I will never eat foie grass because the force feeding is absolutely awful. It's easier to pretend the $3 chicken I am eating had a decent life.

The way Foie Gras is made is pretty disgusting but that's also the case behind a lot of food.

I never heard of this before. I googled, and must say after looking at some cruel pictures, good that they banned it. Should be banned everywhere. The method is utterly cruel.

@Morrow said:

I never heard of this before. I googled, and must say after looking at some cruel pictures, good that they banned it. Should be banned everywhere. The method is utterly cruel.

You should google how they make other foods too. You might consider giving up eating altogether.

The same people who are outraged about fois gras will happily eat a steak or burger that was treated much worse than the geese they use to make this stuff. I think people forget sometimes that we've got 6 billion people to feed on this planet, and that it's really not possible to do so with cows and chickens that roam free all day long.

With any luck, this ban will be like the Chicago one, and won't have any teeth and eventually vanish. It would be a crime if places like the French Laundry had to limit what they served because people have an unrealistic ideal of how their food is produced.

@Ravenlight:

Depends on the circumstances, I sometimes go to McDonald's, after all. I just haven't heard of a method as cruel as the mass feeding for foie gras yet. Sure, a lot of animals are only kept to be slaughtered and eaten, but at least they are treated rather decently (of course, there are always exceptions unfortunately).

Shoving a 50cm long metal pipe into the throats of ducks and gooses to force them to swallow five times their normal amount of food, often tearing holes into their body, is just disgusting. How can the people doing that not feel bad? I'll refrain from posting images here.

So stupid. I CAN EAT WHATEVER THE FLYING FUCK (pun intended) I WANT.