Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Foie gras image from Wikipedia.
Asheville restaurants are targeted in an online petition asking the LAB, the GPI and table to remove foie gras dishes from their menu. Foie gras is a goose-liver delicacy typically made with the livers of force-feed geese.
Currently, petition organizer Mary Tully has gathered over 300 of her goal of 500 signatures.
From the petition:
Asheville can do better than this! Foie gras is the product of a system of agriculture that is inordinately cruel and inhumane. At just a few months old, ducks and geese are confined to sheds, where they will be force-fed enormous amounts of grain, several times a day, to cause the pathological condition of “fatty liver.” Workers insert a long metal tube into the animals’ throats, and force food directly into their gullets. Undercover footage taken at each of the large US foie gras producers shows birds actively avoiding the gavage procedure, as well as animals with bleeding injuries from the procedure.
Foie Gras doesn’t reflect Asheville’s commitment to the farm-to-table movement. Here in Asheville, we love our local farms, both large and small. We walk the walk, and we talk the talk. We are solidifying our farm-to-table future by teaching the principles of local, sustainable agriculture in our schools. Here in Asheville, we support our local farming culture with our forks. Serving foie gras in Asheville’s independent restaurants, simply doesn’t reflect our farm-to-table values. It flies in the face of them. The Lexington Avenue Brewery and others cannot tout farm-to-table principles, while simultaneously importing and serving cruelty and environmental devastation.
Foie gras isn’t humane.
It isn’t “green.”
It isn’t local.
It isn’t Asheville.
Read about some environmental problems: http://www.humanesociety.org/news/press_releases/2010/05/HVFG_050610.html
And watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAzrSl0ztsQ
Join me in urging the Lexington Avenue Brewery and others to remove the shame of foie gras from their menus.
Lexington Avenue Brewery is serving foie gras “patty melts” at their LAB/Craggie Brewery Beer Dinner: http://www.facebook.com/events/260069107432287/
The Grove Park Inn offers two foie gras dishes: http://www.groveparkinn.com/resourcefiles/pdf/winter-dinner-menu-at-the-grove-park-inn-hotel-asheville-north-carolina.pdf#zoom=100
Table features a foie gras mousse: http://tableasheville.com/menu/804
Petition link here. Is foie gras Asheville?
Updated 8/8 to add Mountain Xpress reader opinion from 8/5: Stuff it: Asheville City Council should ban the sale of foie gras
A meat-eater who claims to be concerned about plant pain is disingenuous. It takes 16 pounds of grain and soybeans to produce a pound of edible flesh from feedlot beef. If this bleeding-heart plant lover was concerned about plant pain, he would eat plants directly and not participate in the wasteful conversion of plants into meat. Plants don’t have a central nervous system, and does he really equate pulling a leaf off of a plant to the slitting of a chickens throat? If his child stabs the family dog, will he equate it to picking a flower? The plant argument is stale and stupid. You need new material.
I don’t understand Kipper..you agree that it is cruel but won’t sign it because of the person who started the petition, whom you probably don’t know? Hardly seems fair. Think it was just men (or should have been just men) who helped end suffrage in the early 1900s? Because women were too connected to the issue? My grandmother would beg to differ.
Change happens by people who care, and it shouldn’t matter what they eat, or what gender they are…what matters is that they are bringing these issues to the table (no pun intended) for people who may not be aware of what is going on. No one is trying to shut down local restaurants for serving Foie Gras…we just want them to stop serving it and remain in business selling other delicious local food that is not processed by cruelty/environmental irresponsibility in New York.
Wow! How awesome is it that my petition is being discussed!?!? Thanks for all of the comments!
A recent poll reports that some 95% of all Americans believe that there should be laws in place to protect animals from cruelty. Here’s the kicker: Ducks aren’t protected under either the federal Animal Welfare Act or the federal Humane Slaughter Act. No birds who enter the food supply are. I believe that most of us can agree that the gavage procedure used in foie gras production is exceptionally cruel, although it can and has been argued that all methods of animal product production are cruel. What we have here is an opportunity to put our money where our mouths are, and end the sale of a product that nearly all of us can agree is especially cruel, no matter our dietary stripe. If we can’t all agree on who the messenger should be, hopefully we can agree that the message itself bears consideration.
I absolutely care about animals. I was distressed to learn that the Asheville restaurants targeted in the petition were sourcing their foie gras from large foie gras factory farms that were under investigation for cruelty. I was shocked to learn that Hudson Valley Foie Gras was also convicted of over 1000 violations to the federal Clean Water Act, for dumping duck excrement and slaughter waste into New York’s waterways, and that they had been admonished by the Better Business Bureau for making false claims that their foie gras is humanely produced. Again. No matter where we all land on the issue of animal rights, I hope we can at least meet on common ground where out commitment to the environment is concerned. In any event, I have enjoyed reading the comments, and I appreciate everyone’s thoughts on the matter. We have the opportunity to do a good thing here. I hope that message isn’t lost in the fray.
When people make insensitive and ridiculously stupid remarks, they shouldn’t be surprised when people boycott their businesses. That sort of thing was just in the news.
Terri I agree with you 100%. I love Orbit and I know Marc personally and I was saddened by his post here. As a business owner I would NEVER post my personal opinions, stupid or not, under the name of my business. I have a strict policy of not allowing my agents to have anything of religious or political nature in their offices. I must remain neutral on all accounts. I really wish Orbit DVD would not have posted this. You really do not know how something can get out of control.
Chuck, I never said which way I sided on this issue. Mrs. Orbit had to remind me that I tried foie gras, and that I liked it. I doubt I’ll eat it again.
What triggers me to respond in these debates are the key words “Nazi,” “gas chamber” etc. Be passionate in what you believe in, but when people compare eating meat to the genocide of six million Jews, I feel that cheapens the argument for vegetarianism. It’s no better than the preachers shouting through their megaphones at Bele Chere.
And was I joking in what I said? Isn’t there a group that only eats fruits and nuts? Others only eat what people have discarded. Studies have shown possible communication between plants and reactions to trauma, so who knows? We didn’t completely figure out how photosynthesis worked until about 50 – 60 years ago. The plant world still holds surprises for us.
The plant kingdom does still hold surprises for us, but to argue that a carrot is anywhere near as aware as a duck or a pig or a cow is ludicrous. However absurd (and worn) this comparison is, it is actually pertinent to the conversation:
We must consume life to survive; this is unavoidable. However, excusing the unnecessary slaughter of conscious animals with possibility of sentient vegetation turns a nihilistic approach into an apathetic fallacy. Just because a carrot *might* feel pain, does not mean we *should* eat animals. Also, if I were concerned about the death of absolutely all life, eating an animal would mean I were ultimately killing more plants, as numerous plants must be used to rear an animal. Even if plants can suffer some way, thriving on vegetation would mean they are affected less than animals because (1) they are obviously less-developed and (2) because eating them directly results in fewer of their deaths. No one can end suffering, but we can lessen it. (Look to the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism.)
Which brings me to my point, eating plants LESSENS the amount of unnecessary suffering in the world. That is precisely what this petition is about. I’m a vegetarian, but I would argue that a hamburger is (in a way) more necessary than foie gras, because it might feed someone who is too busy, too unconcerned, etc., to find an alternative meal. Foie gras, on the other hand is a completely exorbitant delicacy, rooted in gluttony. Of course most animal advocates are abolitionists as well, but submitting a petition to ban the sale of all meat in any city would be an exercise in futility. The point of this petition is to outlaw a completely unnecessary indulgence and cut the cord of commerce between local restaurants and facilities that exist solely to breed, stuff, and slaughter birds that would otherwise have no reason to exist.
If one would still like to argue that this is ‘Murica and we can eat whatever we want, I’d like to see how Asheville would respond to a new Korean restaurant serving Gaegogi.
If only more folks would embrace the magic of a sincere “I’m sorry.”
I too have been at the crossroads of admitting an insensitivity and digging further into one, and I have never regretted taking the higher of the two roads.
You’ll appreciate this analogy, being the owner of a video store, but your follow-up reminded me of a scene in the movie Forrest Gump, the one just after “I’m sorry I had a fight in the middle of your Black Panther party.” The one where Jenny’s boyfriend blames the war and conservatives for his punching Jenny in the eye. Anyway, it is what it is.
I hope folks one day abandon the hackneyed response of “but what about the poor plants,” and give animals the consideration they truly deserve. Until that time, what is the process for cancelling my Orbitz membership? Me and several of my friends would like to know.
I think that you are taking Marc’s comment out of context. Mayhaps he was trying to bring a little levity to the discussion?
He certainly has nothing against vegetarians. I should know because I’ve been married to him for 22 years. I was vegetarian for 27 years and our 18 year old daughter is currently, and probably always will be vegetarian. He completely respects us in our dietary choices.
Marc’s comment should have been made by MARC and not through ORBIT DVD.
No one ever sticks up for the plants in these arguments. Just because they cannot scream doesn’t mean you are not hurting them.
Are we to allow any and all forms of cruelty to animals? Are not some forms of cruelty so horrific that they should not be allowed? Are humans so selfish that they cannot show any mercy at all to beings who suffer in every way that we do? We want mercy and justice for ourselves, but are not willing to extend it to other sentient beings. As Nobel laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer said, “In relation to them, all people are Nazis; for the animals it is an eternal Treblinka.”
While I am sympathetic to animal cruelty issues and will sign this petition, I am not going to let this go any farther than that. There are far too many hungry people in WNC, not to mention other more pressing issues, and this is the least of my concerns. I think Sean’s approach is appropriate.
Well, since it takes exponentially more grain/food/feed to equal a small amount of meat (and even worse a luxury product like foie gras), it makes a TON of sense to boycott this and even all animal based foods. That large amount of food and water can go straight to the people. Smart, huh!
James Bond star Roger Moore narrated a video about foie gras. You can view it at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqI-28WuoYQ
I was just informed by a friend of mine that my actual stance on this matter is: “I have trouble with annoying do-gooders who misplace their do-goodery on local businesses who are just trying to earn a living and why can’t they have some perspective?”
Amen to this and your original comment, Kipper.
I totally agree with you Kipper. Leave our local restaurants alone. If you don’t like foie gras, don’t eat it but don’t tell me that I can’t because you don’t like it.
There are plenty of ways for local businesses to succeed without being cruel.
Plus, I don’t really think that their sales of foie gras is what is keeping the GPI in business.
So, as a “do-gooder”, I do have perspective. I love supporting local businesses but I hate cruelty. So when I’m in Asheville, I eat out at every meal. You know where I spend all my money? At restaurants that don’t have crappy foie gras on the menu!
I don’t find foie gras glamorous, but I do find it incredibly tasty.
Maybe we can work on some local source that doesn’t involve cruelty.
There is absolutely no way to make Foie Gras without cruelty. In order to make the liver that fatty, the birds HAVE to be force-fed. There is no humane way to do it. Sometimes doing the right thing need to become more important than a few minutes of pleasure, particularly when there are plenty of delicious things to eat that do not require suffering.
There is a great product call Faux Gras – check it out, it’s amazing! http://www.theregalvegan.com/site/faux_gras
You can’t produce quality foie gras in NC..the summers are too hot for the ducks. While you Ashevillians have started on the foie gras cruelty kick why not visit a few of your beloved local beef, rabbit, chicken farms and watch their process from start to finish…
If you don’t support it, then don’t eat it.Leave the chefs who cook it and the folks who enjoy it alone.
What upsets me about this is that this petition was started by a vegan who most likely rarely dines at any of those establishments.
I’d have a lot more respect if this petition was created by, and signed by people who consume animals to begin with.
I for one don’t find foie gras glamorous, and to know that the cruelty that the ducks endure before being slaughtered is quite shameful.
However, I refuse to sign a petition created and supported by vegans. It’s very reminiscent of that senatorial council on women’s reproductive rights being led by elderly gentlemen… don’t you think?
Well Kipper, when someone shoves a tube down your throat and force feeds you until your liver stops working and your sides split and turn gangrenous, then PLEASE refuse for someone to help you. These ducks and geese are treated with so little compassion and with so much cruelty. I personally know Mary Tully and your comments about her are false and sad. You obviously sound like you have a person ax to grind with her. What she is doing is simply asking the restaurants not to carry cruelty. I am also offended that restaurants here carry Foie Gras. Lexington Avenue Brewery sent me a nasty message after I posted my displease on their Facebook and then removed all negative comments about it, leaving the only Pro-Foie Gras post up that was seriously erroneous. People become so defensive when you mention the word “VEGAN” because in their hearts they know we MURDER animals to eat them. I stand behind this cause. I am PROUD to be an ASHEVILLE NATIVE and I am disgusted with Foie Gras.
I think this is a totally flawed argument, sorry. That is like saying that only gunowners can create a petition for gun control, or only soldiers can protest war. Making personal choices such as veganism is one way to take a stand against animal cruelty, but helping to make changes on a larger scale is another way.
No, because I know tons of decent people who abhor this cruelty too. I know many non-vegans who avoid foie gras, veal and the like for this very reason. Who cares who started it? Either you agree with that cruelty is wrong or you don’t.