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Stuffed duck: Praised by gourmands, foie gras to critics is cruelty most foul
Ron Eade, The Ottawa Citizen, Feb 4, 2008

At Domus Cafe in the Byward Market, chef John Taylor goes through five kilos a week, each portion about 100 to 150 grams (3.5 to 5 ounces). Do the math, and it comes to roughly 40 servings.

"A lot of people want to know how it's made," Mr. Walker said during the 90-minute drive on a bone-chilling winter morning, south through Hawkesbury and across the St. Lawrence Seaway.

"There are a lot of misconceptions about how the animals are force-fed. Is it cruel? No, definitely not. You'll see the ducks actually look forward to their feeding.

Foie gras producers are quick to point out the technique of gavage is by no means new, dating as far back as 2500 BC when ancient Egyptians noticed that waterfowl tended to gorge themselves just before migration. The Egyptians started force-feeding the birds even beyond their natural inclination for occasional gluttony, and discovered the fattened liver had a delicate, butter-smooth and luxurious texture they could get no other way.

Foie gras is a French term that basically means fat liver. Take that as a clue, because it is loaded with artery-clogging guck that will not make you a track star. If you are so inclined, it's best to consume foie gras only occasionally, and even then only in small quantities among consenting adults.

Male moulard ducks are most prized because they produce the largest livers -- about eight to 10 times their normal size. (These days, ducks are preferred over geese because they can make more foie gras in a shorter period of time with less feed and effort.)

At Elevages Perigord, ducks are free to scamper around in a clean, climate-controlled barn for 12 weeks before they are placed in individual cages where they are force-fed for 13 days before slaughter.

The gavage barn was strangely quiet on our visit, its silence broken only by a soft whir of electric fans that keep the air circulating at a comfortable temperature of 15 degreesC. This breed of duck makes practically no noise, and so there was no cacophony of quacking you might expect from 2,000 moulards waiting in cages for their next feeding.

Foie gras defenders will tell you that ducks love being force-fed. Some researchers in France have conducted experiments that show force-feeding does not induce any significant stress in the birds. (Critics dismiss those findings as self-serving nonsense; you'll have to decide for yourself.)

When we entered the building, row after row of ducks eagerly craned their long necks through the tops of their cages to reach out, bills wide open, in anticipation of food. If I am to interpret what I saw, the ducks did not appear to be in any distress -- but I am not a duck, and so I couldn't ask them directly.

(When we arrived at about 11 a.m., the morning gavage was already done and it was not time for another. Our guide, general manager Emmanuel Nassans, demonstrated the technique on a duck so we could get a very clear idea of how the birds respond to the process.)
Food for gavage consists of a mix of 55 per cent ground corn; the rest is water. It goes into a machine that hydraulically forces the porridge-like mush in measured portions through a hose and, finally, a tube inserted down the duck's throat. Feeding takes just a few seconds. In total, two workers can force-feed the entire barn of 2,000 ducks in about 90 minutes.

Force-feeding begins at 300 grams of corn mush per feeding, two times a day. The amount is gradually increased to 850 grams over the course of the 13-day fattening period. On our visit, the portion was up to 720 grams per feeding.

A native of southwest France, Mr. Nassans has been producing foie gras since he was 12 years old. "It's a cultural tradition that's been in the family forever -- at least three generations," he says in French, interpreted for us by Mr. Walker.

"It's not a new thing to take these ducks and force-feed them," he says through the interpreter.

"It's been done already by nature," Mr. Nassans says, referring to the inclination of ducks and geese to gorge themselves before migration.

But, critics point out, the natural inclination of ducks to over-eat does not extend to fattening their livers to the point where they can hardly move, much less fly.

"For me, they are not treated cruelly," Mr. Nassans says. "If we treated them cruelly they would be half-dead.

"It's to my advantage to have a healthy, happy duck."

Changes have been made over the years to make the procedure more, ah, comfortable: Nozzles have been reduced in size to make it easier to slip down their gullets, for example.

After extracting the prized foie gras, eviscerated duck carcasses may be sold whole for roasting or carved into single breasts for searing, and legs/thighs for confit. No meat is wasted.

Producers of foie gras believe they are victims of animal rights zealots who will not rest until all animal agriculture is ended, period. They say trying to legislate eating habits is meddlesome in the extreme, and that foie gras is an easy target because their industry is relatively small and unorganized and does not have the same clout as big beef, chicken, turkey and pork producers who would likely fight back.

Much of the debate is fuelled by lurid and disgusting pictures distributed by activists showing birds being force-fed with tubes shoved down their throats. These images frequently evoke a visceral sense of revulsion among city slickers who are more used to seeing meat products displayed in pristine plastic packages.

But the harsh reality is, raising animals for human consumption is by no means benign. While there are laws against cruelty (and any duck producer, or pet owner for that matter, who crosses the line can be prosecuted), the very act of slaughtering means we are taking the life of another creature to supply us with nutrition that, truth be told, we could get another way.

Humans can easily subsist on a balanced diet of vegetables, fruit, rice and beans, although in my mind that would be pretty boring. If we choose to kill and eat animals, then, the question becomes one of how much distress we as omnivores are prepared to accept among creatures that appear on our table.
Where the issue is one of humane treatment (as opposed to outright prohibition), then in my mind the matter can be addressed by policing. There are, after all, not a lot of foie gras producers in Quebec to keep tabs on. But if you believe foie gras production -- or chicken, pork or beef -- is wrong under any circumstance, then the answer is to stick to eating nuts and berries.

Far more distressing, in my opinion, is the waste I often see in restaurants and, I confess, sometimes in my own home, where animals raised and killed for our benefit are not completely eaten. If restaurant portions are so large that some of the meat goes back to the kitchen, that means a measure of life has been taken for no good reason.

But in my experience, I have never seen foie gras returned uneaten after it has been ordered by a customer. Although my wife prefers not to eat foie gras (because of the fat) when it is served at a banquet, the fact is her portion always seems to find its way to my plate where it disappears in an instant.
Beyond that, consumers may choose products where they are satisfied animals are treated as humanely as possible. If that means you prefer free-running chickens over those raised in cages, then you have that option.

"The process is actually much better than I thought," says chef Stephen Vardy of Whalesbone.

"I thought it (force-feeding) was a much more drawn-out process. But when you look at the ducks reaching out to you, you realize they're hungry. They want food."

Dirk McCabe, sous-chef at Beckta's, didn't see suffering ducks, either. "They were all very gentle; it was better than I thought."

At Domus, chef John Taylor said the field trip confirmed what he expected. "Anything that's stuck in a cage for 13 days is not ideal," he says, "but they didn't seem to be in discomfort.

"In any kind of animal rearing, at some point there is going to be some unpleasantness. With foie gras, sure they're being force-fed. But after seeing the whole operation I've seen nothing to stop me from buying the product."