I thought we were smart?    Au contraire, then why are we eating “foie gras around here????

I am well and truly on the path to becoming vegan- ok, well lacto-ovo vegetarian if truth be known, and doing so for what I imagine are the same 3 reasons most everyone else decides to make the change.
1/ Ethics, I see way too much character, love and feeling in animals- including fish (yes, I said that) to eat them
2/ Environmental reasons- our planet literally cannot continue to eat animals the way we do, mother earth simply cannot sustain it- it’s a fact my loves.  There are too many of us- the Asians have been ok with Entomophagy for decades- it still gets me squirmy and very happy to continue mixing my seeds nuts and sprouted grains to ensure my complete protein.
3/ And number 3- of course, my health-
“I cured my cancer and heart disease drinking dairy milk, and eating red meat” –  said no one ever!   

I don’t often write about animal cruelty issues, although I’ve noticed something in my local area here in Sydney that bothers me.   Living in Clovelly at this point in life suits me well, organic restaurants, yoga studios, the beach in walking distance with great dive spots, 15 mins on a bus to arrive into the city or down at the harbour, and hey-  if I feel the superficial (rare these days) need, there are fantastic shopping and clothing stores dotted all around from Coogee to Bondi to Darlinghurst.  Sounds great doesn’t it- well it does to me- for now (veggie patch later) However what I have noticed over the last few weeks, and it’s always been here, is the amount of liver pate’ I see, Foie Gras!

I suppose I would not have chosen to write about it- Foie Gras, if the cute little wholefoods place that sells it, didn’t advertise how much they pride themselves on ethics & being organic.  Or if the organic butcher didn’t say how much he cares about the standards, farming practices and living conditions of the livestock he sells as food, but they say they do.  Given that I am clearly the sensitive type (yes, fish have feelings too), why then do they sell Liver Pate’ – of which the French name is Foie Gras?

From the PETA site    
www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/factory-farming/ducks-geese/foie-gras/
To produce “foie gras” (the French term means “fatty liver”), workers ram pipes down the throats of male ducks twice each day, pumping up to 2.2 pounds of grain and fat into their stomachs, or geese three times a day, up to 4 pounds daily, in a process known as “gavage.” The force-feeding causes the birds’ livers to swell to up to 10 times their normal size. Many birds have difficulty standing because their engorged livers distend their abdomens, and they may tear out their own feathers and attack each other out of stress.
The birds are kept in tiny cages or crowded sheds. Unable to bathe or groom themselves, they become coated with excrement mixed with the oils that would normally protect their feathers from water. One Newsweek reporter who visited a foie gras factory farm described the ducks as “listless” and “often lame from foot infection due to standing on metal grilles during the gavage.” Other common health problems include damage to the oesophagus, fungal infections, diarrhea, impaired liver function, heat stress, lesions, and fractures of the sternum. Some ducks die of aspiration pneumonia, which occurs when grain is forced into the ducks’ lungs or when birds choke on their own vomit. In one study, birds force-fed for foie gras had a mortality rate up to 20 times that of a control group of birds who were not force-fed

I suppose my point is- if you are lucky enough to live in a peaceful environment, where we have employment, constant sunshine, plenty of food, choice and freedom- our standards of living are that of the blessed indeed, why then would you contribute to such a barbaric and disconnected practice such as the production of Foie Gras. Why would you continue to eat liver pate’?    
It is a privilege to live so ‘relatively’ care free, indulging in a ‘delicacy’ such as liver pate that has come at the pain and suffering of a living being is just beyond me- the vibration of eating such a food, the energy of that food is just terrible.   Im hoping that with this piece of information, that someone – even just one person, that was not aware of the way liver pate got to your plate, decides to stop eating it, then that is in somehow helping, doing my small bit this time to reduce the pain and suffering of animals.

The disconnection of so many people is so prevalent on the planet right now…  How else do you explain the ability of a man or woman to cause pain and harm to an animal- total disconnection to themselves.

Like to know how to make Foie gras? ….

Check out this truthful documentary hosted by Kate Winslet –  it serves humanity to be aware.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyOu-GVtgPQ
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