Why do the French like Fois Gras when it is in fact barbaric?

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This fat bird, right, she told me that the geese actually enjoy it and that is why she eats it. Then she got up and I saw she had a huge munty ass and that he boyfriend probably has to caress that and pretend it is sexy. Uergggh!

Anyway - Fois Gras. It is vile. Barbaric. Arnie banned it in California. He did good.

― NamC., Monday, 18 April 2005 12:41 (twenty years ago)

That's nothing to Caviar, mate.

― mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 18 April 2005 12:45 (twenty years ago)

it is delicious.

― jed_ (jed), Monday, 18 April 2005 12:47 (twenty years ago)

Geese being tortured VS Fat girl that I mentioned who didn't know where Wales was on the UK map being fed into a blender.

Hmmm.

― NamC., Monday, 18 April 2005 12:52 (twenty years ago)

It is rather tasty.

― Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Monday, 18 April 2005 12:54 (twenty years ago)

Geese being tortured VS Fat girl that I mentioned who didn't know where Wales was on the UK map being fed into a blender.

you should pick the latter as i'd quite like to see you banged up for murder and thus off the streets*

*this board, unless they have the internet in prison, which would be typical of this Labour government etc.

― $V£N! (blueski), Monday, 18 April 2005 12:58 (twenty years ago)

I propose to deny inmates access to the Internet.

― Michael Howerd (mark grout), Monday, 18 April 2005 12:59 (twenty years ago)

What are your thoughts on Ortolan?

Basically a French delicasse where a songbired is fed up to four times its natural size and then drowned in Brandy?

― Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Monday, 18 April 2005 13:01 (twenty years ago)

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=205341

― Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Monday, 18 April 2005 13:02 (twenty years ago)

The thread question is based on an assumption that French culture is inherently non-barbaric...can you please explain your basis for this assumption?

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 18 April 2005 13:04 (twenty years ago)

The same reason the French routinely eat kittens. They're barbarians

― Dan Beale, Monday, 18 April 2005 13:04 (twenty years ago)

When you answer could you substitute the phrase "French culture" with "culture"?

(xpost: Awesome, never mind)

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 18 April 2005 13:05 (twenty years ago)

OMG. L'ortolan, indeed.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 18 April 2005 13:06 (twenty years ago)

Arnie can go fuck himself.

foi gras tastes horrible.

people are worth more than geese, generally? (actually, I'm not sure about that)

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Monday, 18 April 2005 13:08 (twenty years ago)

The French eat horrible food, that much I know. And they like torturing birds, obviously. And frogs too.
P.S. Pash - this fat bird as worth far less than a gnat, to be honest.

― NamC., Monday, 18 April 2005 13:09 (twenty years ago)

some french food is very tasty, though. pate I generally dislike the taste of.

I'm not really sure I trust your judgement as to the relative worth of people.

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Monday, 18 April 2005 13:11 (twenty years ago)

Or mine, now that I think about it.

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Monday, 18 April 2005 13:12 (twenty years ago)

Why is it that the meanest-spirited people you've ever heard of are suddenly concerned about foie gras?

Seriously, this guy just made the short list for world's biggest ass.

― happy fun ball (kenan), Monday, 18 April 2005 13:13 (twenty years ago)

I read that L'Ortolan description. I don't feel very well.

It's also the name of an expensive but fantastic restaurant, South of Reading.

― mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 18 April 2005 13:14 (twenty years ago)

I didn't read it (& wouldn't eat it) but for a seconr read it as Orlan

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Monday, 18 April 2005 13:15 (twenty years ago)

Oh god foie gras is so so good.

― Markelby (Mark C), Monday, 18 April 2005 13:22 (twenty years ago)

I'd rather have Tuna Paste. And I don't like That much...

― mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 18 April 2005 13:23 (twenty years ago)

I've never had foie gras. You're all poshos.

― $V£N! (blueski), Monday, 18 April 2005 13:24 (twenty years ago)

I'm not a posho FFS!!

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Monday, 18 April 2005 13:26 (twenty years ago)

I think a lot of this foie gras hysteria has to do with a misunderstanding of what overfeeding a bird involves. It's not like overfeeding a mammal. They don't tie the thing down and shove a pointy object down its throat while it gags and sputters and a single tear rolls down its cheek. Birds' necks are designed to accomodate all kinds of things, in all kinds of amounts. It's an unhealthy, even fatal amount of food they give the bird, but it's only for a couple of weeks before they kill it anyway, and the birds, by all reports, don't mind too much. It certainly doesn't cause them pain to be fed this way.

xpost And oh yeah, the other thing is, foie gras is delicious.

― happy fun ball (kenan), Monday, 18 April 2005 13:27 (twenty years ago)

I've had fois gras - it wasnb't as good as my home-made pate, but maybe knwoing a bit too much where it came from put me off. Mind you, I know all about black pudding, and that's yum.

― Johnney B (Johnney B), Monday, 18 April 2005 13:27 (twenty years ago)

hey Cals, I'll look for your article in yr publication shall I? I'll e-mail you a review. yr work e-mail is in the back after all :)

― ceebee, Monday, 18 April 2005 13:29 (twenty years ago)

The overfed geese are scared. They're looking down at all the other geese and going "why am I so massive?!"

― $V£N! (blueski), Monday, 18 April 2005 13:29 (twenty years ago)

I didn't like it at all, I must admit.

foie gras is an easy, emotive issue to campaign about, though, isn't it? I mean, if it got banned, it wouldn't really make all that much difference, even from an animal rights pov, surely? I mean compared to large scale factory farming, for example.

(x-post black pudding = teh yum, yes)

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Monday, 18 April 2005 13:29 (twenty years ago)

The overfed geese are scared. They're looking down at all the other geese and going "why am I so massive?!"

"I feel so... tasty!" *tremble*

― happy fun ball (kenan), Monday, 18 April 2005 13:30 (twenty years ago)

Or they're going "Hurrr.. Bet You wist you had these lovely figs..."

― mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 18 April 2005 13:30 (twenty years ago)

*yawn*.... Posh food - crap for Tories. What do you think?

― Vicky (Vicky), Monday, 18 April 2005 13:31 (twenty years ago)

how about all those barbarians who eat, like, chiquita bananas? They directly support the exploitation of children, who are forced to climb the banana flowers to spray highly cancerigenic chemicals that melt their faces. And how about buying food from countries where people are starving: shouldn't there be laws to oblige them to consume that food locally, until they fix that problem?

― Sébastien Chikara (Sébastien Chikara), Monday, 18 April 2005 13:31 (twenty years ago)

Well, that's the thing. It's like the vegans who are involved in starting a new food co-op near here, but late in the game announced that they would not be contributing money to any business that has anything to do with meat. They are demanding a separate store and a separate fund for any part of the business that semms meat, even free-range, organic meat. They don't want their money touching meat, ever. Which raises the question, how do they eat at all?

― happy fun ball (kenan), Monday, 18 April 2005 13:35 (twenty years ago)

calm down, they are just geese

― lukey (Lukey G), Monday, 18 April 2005 13:36 (twenty years ago)

Cassant mon dos juste pour savoir votre nom
Dix-sept voies et moi l'avons eu avec ce jeu
Je casse mon dos juste pour savoir votre nom
Mais le ciel n'est pas étroitement dans un endroit comme ceci
Quelque chose disparaît mais ne vous clignote pas pourrait manquer
Le ciel de cause n'est pas étroitement dans un endroit comme ceci
J'ai dit que le ciel n'est pas étroitement dans un endroit comme ceci
Apportez-le l'avalent, rapportent avalent en arrière ce soir
N'a jamais pensé que je laisserais une ruine de rumeur mon clair de lune

Le puits quelqu'un m'a indiqué
Vous avez eu un petit ami
Qui a ressemblé à une petite amie
Que j'ai eu en février de l'année dernière
Il n'est pas confidentiel
J'ai le potentiel

Prêt ? Roulons sur quelque chose de nouveau
Prenant son péage et moi pars sans vous

Le ciel de cause n'est pas étroitement dans un endroit comme ceci
J'ai dit que le ciel n'est pas étroitement dans un endroit comme ceci
Apportez-le l'avalent, rapportent avalent en arrière ce soir
N'a jamais pensé que je laisserais une ruine de rumeur mon clair de lune

Le puits quelqu'un m'a indiqué
Vous avez eu un petit ami
Qui a ressemblé à une petite amie
Que j'ai eu en février de l'année dernière
Il n'est pas confidentiel
J'ai le potentiel
Un rushin ', un rushin 'autour

Pas vous-même de moi
J'ai dit peut-être le bébé svp
Mais je juste ne sais pas maintenant
Quand tous que je veux faire est essayer

[ x3 ]
Quelqu'un m'a dit
Vous avez eu un petit ami
Qui a ressemblé à une petite amie
Que j'ai eu en février de l'année dernière
Il n'est pas confidentiel
J'ai le potentiel
Un rushin ', un rushin 'autour

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 18 April 2005 13:37 (twenty years ago)

Foie gras is classic because when people unfamiliar with it try to pronounce it they call it "foe-ee grass".

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 18 April 2005 13:45 (twenty years ago)

Surely the most important thing about food is what it tastes like...if it taste good then it's good, if it tastes bad then it's bad...and taste is of course subjective.

― andyjack (andyjack), Monday, 18 April 2005 13:47 (twenty years ago)

I won't eat foie gras (although that's based more on 1) the price and 2) my dislike for every form of liver that I've tried previously). However, Canada geese are a nuisance in the Washington area. I'd like to see their goslings rounded up annually rounded up and roasted for some sort of public feast.

― j.lu (j.lu), Monday, 18 April 2005 13:48 (twenty years ago)

I love the stuff but last time I had it was in "terrine" form, which at this (critically lauded) restaurant apparently meant "big slab of seemingly raw foie gras with no seasoning or accompaniment." We took it home and fed it to the dog, who was fucking thrilled.

― adam (adam), Monday, 18 April 2005 13:50 (twenty years ago)

TS: saying 'fo-eee grazz' vs saying 'FWAAAAAAH GRAAAAAAAAAAAH'?

― $V£N! (blueski), Monday, 18 April 2005 13:51 (twenty years ago)

"FWAAAAAAH GRAAAAAAAAAAAH" = oll korrect, yes?

― Johnney B (Johnney B), Monday, 18 April 2005 13:54 (twenty years ago)

The next time I'm in a restaurant with FG on the menu, I'm going to ask "How is the FWAAAAAAH GRAAAAAAAAAAAH today?" Then I will order a salad.

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 18 April 2005 13:54 (twenty years ago)

Ortolan=CLASSIC
"Bite off the head and discard. L'ortolan should be served immediately; it is meant to be so hot that you must rest it on your tongue while inhaling rapidly through your mouth."
Dude, we kill songbirds by the ZILLIONS in airplane engines and no one gives a fuck. The only reason people have traditionally done that whole "hiding from god" gluttony thing is that they're cute lil' birds. Nobody in america has an issue with eating veal that's been kept out of sunlight in a box its whole life and is then brutally shot thru the head.
As for foie gras, I've been told by chefs and harvesters that the geese line up to get those feeding tubes down their throats. Geese aren't too bright.
I'm hardly in favor of brutality to animals, but the "well-we-can-be-brutal-to-these-animals-but-not-THESE" attitude is silly.

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Monday, 18 April 2005 13:56 (twenty years ago)

As for foie gras, I've been told by chefs and harvesters that the geese line up to get those feeding tubes down their throats. Geese aren't too bright.

OTM.

― happy fun ball (kenan), Monday, 18 April 2005 13:58 (twenty years ago)

Nobody in america has an issue with eating veal that's been kept out of sunlight in a box its whole life and is then brutally shot thru the head.

Actually I kind of have an issue with that, which is why I don't eat veal. I realize it's hypocritical to only be grossed out by the conditions of veal calves (calfs?) and hardly any other domesticated food animal, which is why you won't see me sermonizing about it.

But yeah, ick.

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 18 April 2005 13:59 (twenty years ago)

i have decided that pig cheek is my foie gras - in so far as it is the tastiest fatty food of all.

― Jaunty Alan (Alan), Monday, 18 April 2005 14:05 (twenty years ago)

I am intrigued. Pig cheek, you say?

― happy fun ball (kenan), Monday, 18 April 2005 14:06 (twenty years ago)

Also: There are so many myths and outright lies surrounding the production of veal that I can't order it in a restaurant with someone I don't know well, or have already discussed veal with, and I hate that. I'm always afraid of a tirade of misinformation. You don't exactly want to spend dinner debunking your guest. Or worse, they could just give you a dirty look and scratch your name off of some mental list. "Note to self: This guy is a Nazi." It's such bullshit.

― happy fun ball (kenan), Monday, 18 April 2005 14:11 (twenty years ago)

Oh veal eaters... don't get me started. Lamb eaters too. Just evil really.

― NamC., Monday, 18 April 2005 14:39 (twenty years ago)

Lamb is great! And we've been through this before, Calum. You eat chicken, so get off your high horse.

― happy fun ball (kenan), Monday, 18 April 2005 14:40 (twenty years ago)

Perhaps.

But do you get free range lamb? It's the whole separation from the mother thing that bothers me - and then put into factory conditions. Killing an animal when it so young... I find that evil personally.

― NamC., Monday, 18 April 2005 14:43 (twenty years ago)

Do you get free-range chicken?

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 18 April 2005 14:47 (twenty years ago)

Well, yeah.

― mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 18 April 2005 14:48 (twenty years ago)

do you get free range lamb

Oh yeah, whenever possible. Which is to say, otherwise I won't have lamb. I won't order it in a restaurant that's not Slow Food-approved as using organic and free-range products. It's not as tasty, for one thing. Lamb is not like hamburger meat or something, it's delicate meat that by all rights *should* cost you a pretty penny. I think we once spent about $60 on a big slab of lamb once. But OH MY GOD it's good meat.

― happy fun ball (kenan), Monday, 18 April 2005 14:50 (twenty years ago)

foie gras is pretty barbaric as a concept. i eat it very occasionally, but i don't try to rationalize it by claiming that the geese somehow enjoy it or don't feel any pain from the process or the slaughter.

― lauren (laurenp), Monday, 18 April 2005 15:05 (twenty years ago)

Meat eaters who claim that foie gras is more barbaric than most other food production practices are wrong, and piss me off. I'm not trying to rationalize... I'd have to feel bad about eating it before I got to the step where I rationalize.

― happy fun ball (kenan), Monday, 18 April 2005 15:11 (twenty years ago)

which is why i don't eat meat, in general.

― lauren (laurenp), Monday, 18 April 2005 15:13 (twenty years ago)

C-man, I presume this is after you've been researcing for your latest piece in Spec fo magazine?

― ceebee, Monday, 18 April 2005 15:16 (twenty years ago)

I think this is all about how Calum hates fat chicks. Get it? Fat chicks! Oh, I kill me.

― happy fun ball (kenan), Monday, 18 April 2005 15:17 (twenty years ago)

"spec fo"?

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Monday, 18 April 2005 15:18 (twenty years ago)

If I can say one thing about fois gras confidently, its that its the most satisfying barbaricly-cultivated meat-food-product to throw at a douchebag chef's face while he's out hiding in the alley out back doing lines of yayo off the dumpster while you are trying desperately to plate up entrees for 40+ people simultaneously.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 18 April 2005 15:18 (twenty years ago)

obnoxious as C is Pash, I'm not going to spread around the name of one of the publications he writes for (or used to at any rate.......) he knows which one it is I'm sure

― ceebee, Monday, 18 April 2005 15:26 (twenty years ago)

And anyway, the fois gras process is far too complicated to truly be "barbaric"...that would be more like 1) see goose, 2) grab goose, 3) eat goose, 4) howl at moon.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 18 April 2005 15:28 (twenty years ago)

then why mention it at all?

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Monday, 18 April 2005 15:32 (twenty years ago)

Tortured meat generally doesn't taste as good as if the animal is all relaxed and feeling good, right?

― A Nairn (moretap), Monday, 18 April 2005 15:39 (twenty years ago)

Very true. See also: free range chicken, and especially free-range eggs. I don't buy factory farmed eggs anymore. They seem sickly to me. Tiny little yolks, thin little shells... poor egg. I weep.

― happy fun ball (kenan), Monday, 18 April 2005 15:41 (twenty years ago)

Uh... this entire fiasco over Fois Gras that inspired this thread happened in France itself recently. The fat girl in question was French. There is more than one Calum on Google - including one that plays rugby and one that inspects animal welfare.

― NamC,., Monday, 18 April 2005 15:51 (twenty years ago)

whoa, you should play rugby with animals.

― A Nairn (moretap), Monday, 18 April 2005 15:53 (twenty years ago)

oh, this was nowt to do with google, it's just I picked up said magazine at a trade fair the other month and was tickled to see your name in there old boy, especially given all the anti-ponce food threads you'd started

― ceebee, Monday, 18 April 2005 15:59 (twenty years ago)

(nb calum, it's "foie gras" not "fois gras")

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Monday, 18 April 2005 16:00 (twenty years ago)

What're Calum's thoughts about that Thai thing... you know the one I'm talking about... with the eggs... we had a thread on it before...

― Jimmy Mod Knows You Eat Your Own Farts (ModJ), Monday, 18 April 2005 16:21 (twenty years ago)

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