Perrier on Duck

A terrific and troubling interview with a truly great chef and Philadelphia restaurateur Georges Perrier who has been the frequent target of animal rights protesters who, want him to stop serving foie gra.

The following is excerpted from the interview wherein GP (Georges Perrier) asks TB (The Evening Bulletin) when will the hunger of the the animal rights protesters be sated.

GP: Here’s the problem: Today it is foie gras, but tomorrow it can be something else.
TB: It opens the door to ban more things … like Whole Foods banning lobsters and crabs because it’s “inhumane” – whatever that means.
GP: Where does it end? Everything can be called “cruelty.” Where does it end?

A Hunger Artist butts in: Chef, this is exactly the point. It will never end for the most active people in the campaign against the production of foie gras because their goal is the elimination of animal suffering by human activity. So this is going to be a long fight. Once they stop the production and sale of foie gras, they will target some other farmed animal product. Of course they will go after “factory farmed” products first. But soon they will target “cruelty free products” because many of them believe that no matter how well you treat an animal while you are raising it, the very act of killing is cruel and unnecessary, while others believe that all animals should be left to live their lives unimpeded by human interference.

Once all the farmed animal products are eliminated then they will go after wild animal products. By this point veganism will have become part of the primary cultural gestalt and so will be a driving force behind the inspiration and codification of all manner of legislation.

Hunting, fishing and animal farms will be illegal. Books and movies that glorify or romanticize hunting and animal farming will be the targets of boycotts, censorship and in extreme cases where animal suffering is truly horrendous -such Hemingway’s The Old Man and The Sea– banned outright.

Drug testing on animals who aren’t sick? Fahgedaboutit.

Pet cats will be illegal because they maim and kill and anyone who owns one will be prosecuted for promoting unnecessary suffering of wild animals by proxy. Or at the very least, there will be a law that requires all house cats to be declawed and fed a cruelty free vegan diet or a diet supplemented by animal products derived from the corpses of animals that died from natural causes.

Pet dogs too will be doggone and the term dog bone will have a completely different meaning.

Uhm…what did I forget? Mandatory health insurance legislation for pets, fine and minimum sentencing guidelines for pet owners who neglect to take their pets for regular check ups? Human stool test kits for vigilant parents who want to screen their kids for illicit meat consumption?

In the end, it doesn’t end chef. Not if you give free reign to your imagination and recognize that the animal rights folks who are giving you such a hard time about duck liver are really trying to reconfigure the food web to conform to they way they think it should be. It’ll be interesting to see how it really shakes out.

The Evening Bulletin – No Sitting Duck

The best sauce in the world is hunger.

Perrier on Duck

A terrific and troubling interview with a truly great chef and Philadelphia restaurateur Georges Perrier who has been the frequent target of animal rights protesters who, want him to stop serving foie gra.

The following is excerpted from the interview wherein GP (Georges Perrier) asks TB (The Evening Bulletin) when will the hunger of the the animal rights protesters be sated.

GP: Here’s the problem: Today it is foie gras, but tomorrow it can be something else.
TB: It opens the door to ban more things … like Whole Foods banning lobsters and crabs because it’s “inhumane” – whatever that means.
GP: Where does it end? Everything can be called “cruelty.” Where does it end?

A Hunger Artist butts in: Chef, this is exactly the point. It will never end for the most active people in the campaign against the production of foie gras because their goal is the elimination of animal suffering by human activity. So this is going to be a long fight. Once they stop the production and sale of foie gras, they will target some other farmed animal product. Of course they will go after “factory farmed” products first. But soon they will target “cruelty free products” because many of them believe that no matter how well you treat an animal while you are raising it, the very act of killing is cruel and unnecessary, while others believe that all animals should be left to live their lives unimpeded by human interference.

Once all the farmed animal products are eliminated then they will go after wild animal products. By this point veganism will have become part of the primary cultural gestalt and so will be a driving force behind the inspiration and codification of all manner of legislation.

Hunting, fishing and animal farms will be illegal. Books and movies that glorify or romanticize hunting and animal farming will be the targets of boycotts, censorship and in extreme cases where animal suffering is truly horrendous -such Hemingway’s The Old Man and The Sea– banned outright.

Drug testing on animals who aren’t sick? Fahgedaboutit.

Pet cats will be illegal because they maim and kill and anyone who owns one will be prosecuted for promoting unnecessary suffering of wild animals by proxy. Or at the very least, there will be a law that requires all house cats to be declawed and fed a cruelty free vegan diet or a diet supplemented by animal products derived from the corpses of animals that died from natural causes.

Pet dogs too will be doggone and the term dog bone will have a completely different meaning.

Uhm…what did I forget? Mandatory health insurance legislation for pets, fine and minimum sentencing guidelines for pet owners who neglect to take their pets for regular check ups? Human stool test kits for vigilant parents who want to screen their kids for illicit meat consumption?

In the end, it doesn’t end chef. Not if you give free reign to your imagination and recognize that the animal rights folks who are giving you such a hard time about duck liver are really trying to reconfigure the food web to conform to they way they think it should be. It’ll be interesting to see how it really shakes out.

The Evening Bulletin – No Sitting Duck

See me, Feed me

Québécois (e) Believe it’s Not Butter

This is a couple of years old but until Natalie Sztern who is a regular commentator over at Ruhlman.com told me about it, I was as clueless as a monk in a brothel 🙂

Canada’s two-margarine policy is just fine with the Supreme Court of Canada. On March 17, 2005, Canada’s highest court ruled that Quebec regulations forcing margarine producers to make their margarine colourless [white] are reasonable.

Unless Quebec changes its rules in the future, the province will remain the only jurisdiction in North America to regulate the colour of margarine.

The intention of the law is, I am sure, to protect the butter industry. And frankly, I wish we had the same law here. But I do pity the poor folks from the provinces who travel to Quebec to find that if they want yellow they have to eat butter. What a let down that must be.

CBC News Indepth: Food

The best sauce in the world is hunger.

Québécois (e) Believe it’s Not Butter

This is a couple of years old but until Natalie Sztern who is a regular commentator over at Ruhlman.com told me about it, I was as clueless as a monk in a brothel 🙂

Canada’s two-margarine policy is just fine with the Supreme Court of Canada. On March 17, 2005, Canada’s highest court ruled that Quebec regulations forcing margarine producers to make their margarine colourless [white] are reasonable.

Unless Quebec changes its rules in the future, the province will remain the only jurisdiction in North America to regulate the colour of margarine.

The intention of the law is, I am sure, to protect the butter industry. And frankly, I wish we had the same law here. But I do pity the poor folks from the provinces who travel to Quebec to find that if they want yellow they have to eat butter. What a let down that must be.

CBC News Indepth: Food

The best sauce in the world is hunger.

Québécois (e) Believe it’s Not Butter

This is a couple of years old but until Natalie Sztern who is a regular commentator over at Ruhlman.com told me about it, I was as clueless as a monk in a brothel 🙂

Canada’s two-margarine policy is just fine with the Supreme Court of Canada. On March 17, 2005, Canada’s highest court ruled that Quebec regulations forcing margarine producers to make their margarine colourless [white] are reasonable.

Unless Quebec changes its rules in the future, the province will remain the only jurisdiction in North America to regulate the colour of margarine.

The intention of the law is, I am sure, to protect the butter industry. And frankly, I wish we had the same law here. But I do pity the poor folks from the provinces who travel to Quebec to find that if they want yellow they have to eat butter. What a let down that must be.

CBC News Indepth: Food

See me, Feed me

Drunken Prawns

So these two prawns are in a bar in Shanghai getting hammered. When one of they become hungry they asks the bartender if he’s got anything to eat. “Yeah” says the bartender but I’m not getting it for you. We’re self serve here.”

“Self-serve?” one of the prawn says “WTF? we’re paying customer, we’re not serving ourselves.”

“Not yet you won’t” says the bartender “have another drink?”

Mad About Shanghai: Drunken Prawns Experience in Shanghai: “http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/332530/19555178”

The best sauce in the world is hunger.

Drunken Prawns

So these two prawns are in a bar in Shanghai getting hammered. When one of they become hungry they asks the bartender if he’s got anything to eat. “Yeah” says the bartender but I’m not getting it for you. We’re self serve here.”

“Self-serve?” one of the prawn says “WTF? we’re paying customer, we’re not serving ourselves.”

“Not yet you won’t” says the bartender “have another drink?”

Mad About Shanghai: Drunken Prawns Experience in Shanghai: “http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/332530/19555178”

See me, Feed me

Hungry 4 Moral Constancy

It’s a bit long but a compelling reminder of the relationship between physical and metaphysical hunger.

The best sauce in the world is hunger.

Hungry 4 Moral Constancy

It’s a bit long but a compelling reminder of the relationship between physical and metaphysical hunger.

See me, Feed me

F.D.A. Curbs Sale of Five Seafoods Farmed in China – New York Times

If you let your palate guide your food purchasing behavior, live in a place where fresh fish is available, have the money to afford it or catch your own, you won’t be inclined to buy cheap frozen imported seafood from anywhere. But if none of this applies to you and you “need” to eat fish this will surely tick you off.
F.D.A. Curbs Sale of Five Seafoods Farmed in China – New York Times

The best sauce in the world is hunger.