Seriously? Foie Gras?

[General of Darkness]

While I'm no fan of PETA, I think this shit is just not right.

The more time I spend with my dogs it reminds me of the time I spent on the farm in Croatia. Yes animals were considered food etc, but they were never treated poorly, or abused.

I truly pisses me the fuck off how people in the human race treat animals, just for a buck.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbUP9Wnv3Y4&feature=player_embedded#!

[sirgonzo420]

Don't worry, it's banned in California.

[Katmandu]

This really tees me off also. The guy force feeding those animals must have a seared conscience.

[General of Darkness]

Don't worry, it's banned in California.

California has no concept of what a human being is. We're just slaves to them.

[chad]

stop eating meat then (vegetarian 22 years). grew up on a farm. worked on several other farms my whole youth + college years. happens with everything you eat. none of it is humane.

[Shami-Amourae]

I fucking love Foie Gras. That shit is good. People who make Foie Gras are heroes.

http://www.boiseweekly.com/images/blogimages/2010/07/15/1279252640-foie-gras-dish1.jpg
http://www.gayot.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/foie-gras.jpg
http://sacfoodies.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/foie-gras-app.jpg

[Nomoss]

Its not nice I will say but look and see how all of your meat is done.. and peta is not so nice as well its it.

[mamboni]

Foie Gras goes back to the ancient Egyptians. Some animals are raised to be slaughtered and consumed. Yes, it is cruel. Yet many men will say it is not, that the animals have no soul and were placed here to be eaten by man. How they know this I do not know. Perhaps we should all be vegetarian. I tried just that on several occasions. But after a week or two I felt sickly and craved meat. I supose I am just a caveman after all. By the way, foie gras is 90% fat. It has to be supremely unhealthy except when taken in very small amounts. I wonder if Shami is rotund of habitus.

[Norweger]

Doesn't PETA kill like 90% of the animals they get in their possession?

[osoab]

PETA:

Getting sheeple all worked up over something that doesn't directly affect them while still raping them up the back side with everything else.

[Shami-Amourae]

I wonder if Shami is rotund of habitus.
Rotund of Habitus? WTF is that?


Foie Gras is a sacred thing in traditional French Culinary Cuisine, which is the basis for Foie Gras and all the culinary arts. The French invented the culinary arts, and I'm telling you they have this shit down, despite what you may think of their loopy Socialist politics. Foie Gras is very healthy with tons of fat soluble Vitamin A and D. Another thing you guys need to understand is animal fat is GOOD FOR YOU! I'm serious! Eat animal fat as much as you can, it's extremely healthy (GMO corn fed animals aren't though.) What gets you fat is sugar, polyunsaturated oils, and improperly treated grains (especially wheat.) Look at Classical French cuisine and you find a lot of creams, red meat, and offal (sweetbreads, liver pate, foie gras, and so forth.) These are all very healthy and the model of the Weston A. Price diet.


I'm classically trained and cooked for a lot of super rich/powerful people. It's actually how I found out about the Elite/Illuminati since I met some of them and cooked for some of them here and there. Some of the cooks I worked with were talking about the Rothschilds, Federal Reserve, bankers, and how Israel ran the US but I didn't understand it then since I was a Socialist. It did sink in though and eventually I did research and found out they were right, got disgusted, and left the culinary field to pursue my own business. That's one of the first things that led me to you guys actually.


One time we cooked for President Bush (Jr.) and we did filet mignon topped with foie gras sorbet (yes, sorbet!) and a cherry demi-glace. I wish I had pictures since it was beautiful. That was amazing stuff, I'll tell you. You should experience real high end food before you knock it. There's a reason people pay top dollar for it.

[Shami-Amourae]

If Foie Gras freaks you out consider trying Bone Marrow, which is my favorite form of Offal:

http://www.foodgps.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/charlie-palmer-bone-marrow-with-red-onion-marmalade.jpg
http://static.culturemap.com/site_media/uploads/photos/2012-04-30/MAXs_Wine_Dive_Chef_Pellegrino_Roasted_Bone_Marrow .350w_263h.jpg
http://www.chicagoreader.com/binary/46be/gilt_bar.jpg
http://www.bonappetit.com/images/magazine/2011/06/mare-roasted-bone-marrow-h.jpg


Bone marrow is like butter and tastes as good as bacon in my opinion. It's INSANELY healthy for you too which is the best part!

Try asking your local butcher if they can cut it up for you sometime and try making it. If you want strong bones and good teeth its something you should seriously consider.

[LuckyStrike]

stop eating meat then (vegetarian 22 years).

What are you, gay?

[LuckyStrike]

I think factory farms are bad on variety of levels, and conditions there are not good for the animals.

When I shoot a deer or turkey, I don't enjoy walking up on them if they are still alive and flailing but you finish the job and that is that. Nature isn't pleasant, watch what predators do to the smallest, slowest and weakest in the bunch, animals kill other animals brutally. I am at the top of a food chain for a reason, a bear, coyote, fox or gator wouldn't think twice to rip me apart given the opportunity this isn't some let's all hold hands with insects and get a circle jerk going while singing kumbaya PETA bullshit this is reality.

This PETA crap is nothing more than anti Western and anti human propaganda, it's thinly veiled White guilt "oh look at these decadent westerners they brutally murder animals for the sake of their bellies" "come to israel this foi gras is illegal" neglecting to mention every single Palestinian HUMAN lives in worse conditions than these geese.


People that act like they can't stomach being on top of the food chain and what it entails really give me pause for how you will fare if TSHTF.

[steyr_m]

Here's what my favourite chef had to say about it in a letter he had gotten from a vegan. I personally love Foie Gras.


thank you for your letter. I appreciate hearing your concerns.

I feel that any time you make a decision about what to eat, you make a series of ethical choices. Are you content with factory farmed pork or do you seek out pastured pork? Do you eat meat or stick to vegetable proteins? Do you buy organic from california or uncertified produce from down the road? Farmed fish or wild? None of these decisions are simple.

You can buy organic produce from california, but it is wrapped in plastic and shipped 200 km in diesel trucks. And do we ever consider the plight of the migrant workers that harvest the produce?

As a chef and restaurant owner I daily make ethical choices about the food I serve. Sometimes, for practical or financial reasons, I fall short of the standards I set for myself. This being said, I think I do a very good job of buying sustainable fish, locally and humanely raised meats, naturally farmed or organic produce, and I feel the need to support small local producers.

But beyond that, I feel it is also my customers place to make ethical choices about their own dinners. I oppose most attempts to restrict or regulate our freedom to make those choices. Most of my customers enjoy meat, so I am happy to provide this. Some choose to only eat meat from small, local producers that are humanely raised, I do my best to provide that. Some of my customers choose to eat no food from animal sources, I feel I do a very good job of providing food for those customers.

As for Foie Gras, I feel there is a lot of misinformation and sensationalism. The language used colours the debate. No one says that the ducks an geese are not force fed, but the anti-foie movement will colour the description by saying the birds are "painfully force-fed. There is little evidence to support the claim that the birds feel pain in this process. The videos that the anti-foie activists use are quite horrific, but these videos are made to shock. The process of force-feeding happens for a very short period of time and is very quick the rest of the time, these birds live quite peaceful and happy lives. Ducks and geese being raised for foie are free range and are treated better than any factory chicken. Most egg producers will raise their laying hens 3 to a cage, in cages barely big enough for one of them.

But ultimately, the choice to eat foie or not to eat foie lies with my customers. If my guests feel the same outrage that you do, or are simply turned off by the idea of foie, then they will stop ordering it. If my customers stop ordering foie gras, I will stop supplying it. My menu is filled with many great choices. If you choose to not eat foie gras, you are welcome to make that choice. If you choose not to meat at all, you are welcome to make that choice as well. But please remember, that even those who choose to eat vegan are still faced with many ethical food choices.

I just received a link to a blog posting on this very subject. This is from Incanto restaurant in the San Francisco. Incanto is probably on the forefront of sustainable and ethical dining in the US. Their position is interesting and well researched. It is worth a read, if only to further the debate. Check out http://incanto.biz/2009/02/01/shock-foie/

Again, I thank you for your letter. I feel that food, and the choices we make around food, is not something we should take lightly. Healthy debate and discussion is always a good thing.

Alexander

http://alexandersvenne.blogspot.ca/2011/10/open-letter-to-customer-on-subject-of.html

[steyr_m]

If Foie Gras freaks you out consider trying Bone Marrow, which is my favorite form of Offal:

Bone marrow is like butter and tastes as good as bacon in my opinion. It's INSANELY healthy for you too which is the best part!

Marrow is awesome, I agree.

[Old Herb Lady]

I am FASCINATED that the DISGUSTING peasant food that I was forced to eat growing up is now considered a delicacy to the elite. Bwahahaaaaaaaa. LMAO.
Enjoy your duck livers & bone butter marrow and pay hundreds of frn's to eat the "food" (us peasants can make it for pennies, BTW) that I wouldn't touch again unless I absolutely had to.
Now I'm dying to know if some of the other "delicacies" that I had to eat is on their menu. Hmmm.....
Pigs feet, cow brains, head cheese, lamb chops, duck hearts, souse, tripe, cow tongue, blood bologna, turtle stew, rabbit stew, and on & on & on.

Dirt taste better to me, I would enjoy the dirt wayy more. I can't believe I grew up eating food fit for the elite.

[Libertytree]

I do love me some pate :)

I am curious about some marrow recipes, never tried cooking it soley on it's own, sounds fascinating and tasty.

[Libertytree]

I am FASCINATED that the DISGUSTING peasant food that I was forced to eat growing up is now considered a delicacy to the elite. Bwahahaaaaaaaa. LMAO.
Enjoy your duck livers & bone butter marrow and pay hundreds of frn's to eat the "food" (us peasants can make it for pennies, BTW) that I wouldn't touch again unless I absolutely had to.
Now I'm dying to know if some of the other "delicacies" that I had to eat is on their menu. Hmmm.....
Pigs feet, cow brains, head cheese, lamb chops, duck hearts, souse, tripe, cow tongue, blood bologna, turtle stew, rabbit stew, and on & on & on.

Dirt taste better to me, I would enjoy the dirt wayy more.

Turtle and rabbit stew are disgusting to you now? Are you a vegan OHL?

[Old Herb Lady]

Turtle and rabbit stew are disgusting to you now? Are you a vegan OHL?


Yes, it's disgusting to me now. No, I'm not a vegan.
I think I ate snake soup, too. Barf. I can't talk about this subject anymore tonight.
I'm going to have nightmares now remembering all this ! UGH !

[Shami-Amourae]

I am FASCINATED that the DISGUSTING peasant food that I was forced to eat growing up is now considered a delicacy to the elite. Bwahahaaaaaaaa. LMAO.
Enjoy your duck livers & bone butter marrow and pay hundreds of frn's to eat the "food" (us peasants can make it for pennies, BTW) that I wouldn't touch again unless I absolutely had to.
Now I'm dying to know if some of the other "delicacies" that I had to eat is on their menu. Hmmm.....
Pigs feet, cow brains, head cheese, lamb chops, duck hearts, souse, tripe, cow tongue, blood bologna, turtle stew, rabbit stew, and on & on & on.

Dirt taste better to me, I would enjoy the dirt wayy more. I can't believe I grew up eating food fit for the elite.

We are designed/evolved to eat Offal. Offal is the edible parts of the animals that modern Western culture throws out as "disgusting", in favor only of the meat. We've only stopped eating Offal recently in favor of factory GMO beef and chicken. If you're afraid of it, try finding a restaurant that serves Bone Marrow and try it out once. It's getting very popular in fine dining restaurants these days. What can it hurt you? Try Cod Liver Oil (https://www.swansonvitamins.com/swanson-premium-double-strength-cod-liver-oil-2500-iu-a-270-iu-d-500-sgels?otherSize=SW335) too. That's how you should be getting your Vitamin A and D, not through synthetic powdered Vitamins.


The truth is that the Offal is where most of the vitamins and nutrition is. The Elites eat it since they understand this. They want us to believe that sugar, GMO corn, and "low-fat" diets are what is healthy.

The poor eat offal this since it's what they can afford. Aboriginal/Native cultures eat this since they understand it's healthy and they don't waste food. These people in Aboriginal/Native cultures eat properly and regularly live into their 100s with good physical and mental health all the way through. We lack vitamins and minerals from our diet since we don't eat much Offal anymore in the West. I'm trying to promote it here so people look at it more seriously so they can get their vitamins/minerals from their food and not synthetic vitamins.

Offal only tastes bad if you prepare it wrong or eat the wrong things. That's what I'm trying to promote in my posts.

[zap]

I am disgusted with the treatment of the ducks, and I don't eat pate, I don't eat veal either..... granted beef and chicken,pork are grown in nasty conditions, that's why I buy my meat from one place only, and I know how it was grown.

I have never had turtle soup, but my grandpa did grow rabbit and we ate alot of them. I love rabbit! Tripe is good too in menudo soup , but I make the soup myself not store bought, cow stomach lining,MMMM ya thats it !!!



edit to add; I dont mind beef liver, and my mom used to cook up a whole bunch of chicken gizerds( sp)
I have no idea what those are but I ate them.

[Old Herb Lady]

We are designed/evolved to eat Offal. Offal is the edible parts of the animals that modern Western culture throws out as "disgusting", in favor only of the meat. We've only stopped eating Offal recently in favor of factory GMO beef and chicken. If you're afraid of it, try finding a restaurant that serves Bone Marrow and try it out once. It's getting very popular in fine dining restaurants these days. What can it hurt you? Try Cod Liver Oil (https://www.swansonvitamins.com/swanson-premium-double-strength-cod-liver-oil-2500-iu-a-270-iu-d-500-sgels?otherSize=SW335) too. That's how you should be getting your Vitamin A and D, not through synthetic powdered Vitamins.


The truth is that the Offal is where most of the vitamins and nutrition is. The Elites eat it since they understand this. They want us to believe that sugar, GMO corn, and "low-fat" diets are what is healthy.

The poor eat offal this since it's what they can afford. Aboriginal/Native cultures eat this since they understand it's healthy and they don't waste food. These people in Aboriginal/Native cultures eat properly and regularly live into their 100s with good physical and mental health all the way through. We lack vitamins and minerals from our diet since we don't eat much Offal anymore in the West. I'm trying to promote it here so people look at it more seriously so they can get their vitamins/minerals from their food and not synthetic vitamins.

Offal only tastes bad if you prepare it wrong or eat the wrong things. That's what I'm trying to promote in my posts.





Shami, lovey, you are a very sweet, caring young man. thank you so much.
Just no thank you, I am not interested at all. I have ALL of the vitamins and minerals in my body that I need,
I promise you that I am not deficient whatsoever.....also if this helps you and I know you will appreciate this, shami.....
I rarely ever, practically never, got sick growing up and if I did they gave me more marrow, trust me, I've had my fill.....
you enjoy it ! It's just my tastes have changed ....and I should tell you my bacon story sometime, OMG. You would get a good chuckle, but the thought of it puts a filmy feeling on the roof of my mouth just remembering it. Ugh !

ETA... Synthetic powdered vitamins ?? You of all people know that I have been opposed to that and tried to teach that to people on here from day one when you said they were fine to take. I do not take any vitamins, only herbs.

[zap]

Icky I just looked up sweet breads and chicken gizerds..... I think I will be happy getting my protein from pinto beans, and not consuming alot of meat, although I do love turkey at Thanksgiving !

[chad]

What are you, gay?

actually, gave it up for endurance running way back when. i was doing 40 mile races and training so much throughout the day that i needed to eat massive amounts of carbs. meat was giving me stomach cramps at that time as well, as i was only go gin 3-4 hours between running sets. didn't eat any for something like 7 years while i was racing, during which time i kind of lost my taste for it. just never started again. i do eat fish though, so i guess i am kind of lying. all my friends love it though, because they get all of the meat i hunt.

[Glass]

Tried it as a pate. Take it or leave it. Lots of other nice condiments for finger food/appertizer and so on out there. Never been an offal fan. Steak and Kidney pie is my once in a blue moon limit. Not in for tongue or blains or guts. Got the odd relative that enjoys lambs fry and such. And by odd I don't mean weird.... although it's all relative I suppose. Never tried marrow. All of my grand parents were in to marrow and offal and so on. They all grew up during the war or just after and lived it pretty tough. Generational I guess.

[PlatinumBlonde]

We are designed/evolved to eat Offal. Offal is the edible parts of the animals that modern Western culture throws out as "disgusting", in favor only of the meat. We've only stopped eating Offal recently in favor of factory GMO beef and chicken. If you're afraid of it, try finding a restaurant that serves Bone Marrow and try it out once. It's getting very popular in fine dining restaurants these days. What can it hurt you? Try Cod Liver Oil (https://www.swansonvitamins.com/swanson-premium-double-strength-cod-liver-oil-2500-iu-a-270-iu-d-500-sgels?otherSize=SW335) too. That's how you should be getting your Vitamin A and D, not through synthetic powdered Vitamins.


The truth is that the Offal is where most of the vitamins and nutrition is. The Elites eat it since they understand this. They want us to believe that sugar, GMO corn, and "low-fat" diets are what is healthy.

The poor eat offal this since it's what they can afford. Aboriginal/Native cultures eat this since they understand it's healthy and they don't waste food. These people in Aboriginal/Native cultures eat properly and regularly live into their 100s with good physical and mental health all the way through. We lack vitamins and minerals from our diet since we don't eat much Offal anymore in the West. I'm trying to promote it here so people look at it more seriously so they can get their vitamins/minerals from their food and not synthetic vitamins.

Offal only tastes bad if you prepare it wrong or eat the wrong things. That's what I'm trying to promote in my posts.

I totally agree and I think there is a link between 'low fat' diets and depression and anxiety disorders and probably ADHD and even alzimers.

[LuckyStrike]

actually, gave it up for endurance running way back when. i was doing 40 mile races and training so much throughout the day that i needed to eat massive amounts of carbs. meat was giving me stomach cramps at that time as well, as i was only go gin 3-4 hours between running sets. didn't eat any for something like 7 years while i was racing, during which time i kind of lost my taste for it. just never started again. i do eat fish though, so i guess i am kind of lying. all my friends love it though, because they get all of the meat i hunt.

I was just making joke.

Running 40 miles I think is considered torture under the Geneva convention or was it one of Dantes circles of hell? I can't remember off the top of my head.

[chad]

I was just making joke.

Running 40 miles I think is considered torture under the Geneva convention or was it one of Dantes circles of hell? I can't remember off the top of my head.

yeah, i know. i gave you bonus points for doing that actually. people are getting too thin skinned. i thought it was funny as hell :D

[madfranks]

I've never tried foie gras, but it sounds amazing. Apparently, even the ancient Egyptians did it:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/Egyptiangeesefeeding.jpg

[EE_]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1JlyXiwJ48

[joboo]

Is the force feeding necessary, or is that just for maximum yield?

[Neuro]

Is the force feeding necessary, or is that just for maximum yield?
Yes liver doesn't get fatty unless it is seriously overloaded. Further it gets much bigger, but I think the main reason is to make it fatty!

[sirgonzo420]

Yes liver doesn't get fatty unless it is seriously overloaded. Further it gets much bigger, but I think the main reason is to make it fatty!

Yep.

To make an omelet, one must break eggs.

To make foie gras, one must force-feed geese.

[joboo]

Nasty business. I hate liver, "offal" is the sound I make gagging whenever I try it.

[Libertytree]

Chicken livers, gravy and biscuits!

I remember the 1st time I was offered pate, it was a snooty event and I wasn't well versed in those things then but hell I grew up in the country and ate some strange things according to other people, so I tried it. To me it tasted very similar to Braunsweiger (sp?) only it was spreadable and had a slightly different taste. On a slightly different not...fried Braunsweiger samiches kickass too!

[Old Herb Lady]

How anyone can eat this is beyond my comprehension. How can you eat the liver of an animal that has been tortured/forcefed & enjoy it because it taste good ?
And the Jews LOVE this stuff. Wow.





Foie gras is the liver of the duck or goose that has been fattened by means of force-feeding the animal.
Though it is thought to be French in origin, and the name is certainly French, the process of overfeeding water birds to produce a fatty liver (http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-fatty-liver.htm) and a foie gras type substance has been in practice for thousands of years.
It is believed that the first types of foie gras may have been made in Egypt, and the tradition was certainly carried on in Rome. The Egyptians also fattened calves in this way. How the tradition spread to Europe is somewhat in dispute. Some culinary historians believe that Gallic peasants preserved the method after the fall of the Roman Empire.
Yet others believe that the Jews residing in Israel under Roman occupation may have used the method.
A chef to the Transylvanian court notes the making of foie gras in a book in 1680. It’s significant to note that the Hungarians are the second largest producers of foie gras in the world. Recipes for foie gras may have existed in both the area surrounding Hungary, and in France.



There are several types of foie gras, which can be purchased in France. The types are distinguished by the cooking process and also by the amount of duck liver used. Duck is often thought of as producing an inferior product to the goose liver. France strictly determines how foie gras is labeled. Foie gras entier, is a presentation of one or two whole liver lobes, and may be cooked or uncooked. Foie gras is composed of pieces of goose liver. Bloc de foie gras is just as it sounds, a molded block of the liver that can contain duck pieces.
Most are familiar with the use of the liver in pâté. Foie gras is often served in this form, accompanied by wine, and bread.

Beef Wellington (http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-beef-wellington.htm) is covered with foie gras pâté before being covered in pastry or bread dough.

The force-feeding technique that produces foie gras has come under significant criticism lately. Force-feeding ducks and geese is often considered cruel, and can cause damage to the bird’s esophagus resulting in a painful, though short, existence. The geese and ducks are force-fed through a tube that stretches almost a foot (30 cm) down the interior of the neck. In this way, the animal cannot refuse the food, and though the process takes under a minute, many feel it is unnecessary to treat animals in this way.


There has been such revulsion on how foie gras is produced, that many countries are enacting laws to ban either purchasing or production of the food. Even Pope Benedictine encouraged people to stop the practice. Unlike other animal rights issues, support for bans or stopping production crosses political lines, and different forms of government.
Chicago has become the first city in the US to completely ban importation and production of foie gras. California proposes a ban by 2012, and New York has a similar ban in the works. Countries that have completely banned the production of foie gras include Ireland, Argentina, Denmark, Italy, Poland and the UK. Other bans are being considered or are in process of being made into law. There is no evidence that the French, however, will ban foie gras.

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-foie-gras.htm

[Libertytree]

I don't need any friggin government telling me what I can or can't ingest, period! Don't eat it if ya don't want to, it'll decrease demand and it'll be cheaper or they'll quit making it.

[Old Herb Lady]

Love French Food? Thank the Jews

by: Joan Nathan (http://zesterdaily.com/author/joan-nathan/)


6.13.11 -France has the third largest Jewish population — about 600,000 — in the world after Israel and the United States. Over the centuries Jews have migrated from North Africa, Poland and Russia, and today some 300,000 live in Paris. For 2,000 years, Jews have played a profound role in the evolution of French cuisine, and yet their contribution is barely acknowledged.
In researching my new book, “Quiches, Kugels, and Couscous: My Search for Jewish Cooking in France,” I learned that Jews originally came to Marseilles with the Romans in the first century. And yet they’ve always been regarded, to some degree, as outsiders by an essentially Catholic country. Scars of anti-Semitism have made French Jews cautious, even with people like me who come seeking recipes. This may explain why the country’s Jewish culinary contributions have been overlooked.
When I approached French Jews to gather recipes, their first response was often that they didn’t know any Jewish dishes. They consider the food they eat as French — they shop for seasonal produce at their local markets, and like all French people, obsess about their next meal. But when older French Jews talk about the recipes of their childhood, the descriptions resonate with memories: traditional dishes like carp served cold with sauce verte, a green parsley sauce so French it is mentioned in Taillevent’s famed 14th-century cookbook. Carp with sauce verte, or carpe à la juive, survives mostly as a Jewish holiday dish.
Isolated communities like the Jews of Alsace or the Juifs du Pape in the south of France often retain otherwise forgotten recipes, like a tian of salt cod with spinach, once eaten for Purim and probably during lent for Catholics.


A heavenly beurre blance sauce

Another Alsatian specialty is fish choucroute (sauerkraut) with heavenly beurre blanc sauce, a dish appreciated by kosher customers. In Strasbourg, where everybody eats sauerkraut, there is even a theater and restaurant called Choucrouterie built in an old sauerkraut factory. In the Middle Ages people wrote about the stinky Jewish Sabbath stews with cabbage. Who knows which came first, the Jewish or the gentile version?


The modern Jewis macaron

More recently, French Jews put their own touch on macarons, a very French dessert. The modern Jewish macaron is associated with Boulay, a town about 25 miles north of Nancy. It seems the recipe originated with a Jewish wine salesman named Bines Lazard who began selling the macarons in his shop, Maison Lazard, in 1854 where they were proclaimed the best in France. The same robust cookies, made from the traditional almonds, sugar and egg whites, are sold as macarons de Boulay to this day.
During the Middle Ages, Jewish merchants were international traders. For centuries they provided the sole avenue for products like grain, salt, salted and dried fish and spices to reach France. Can you imagine French cuisine without those staples? As historian Henri Pirenne comments on this period, “if the Jews were so favoured, it was only because they were indispensable.”


Beef as a Sabbath dish in pot au feu

During the eighth to 11th centuries, centers of Jewish commerce and learning sprang up throughout France, and Jewish food traditions were introduced: southern and northern, Sephardic and Ashkenazic. In the 10th century, Benjamin Tudela, the first Jewish census taker, dubbed what is now northern France and southern Germany Ashkenaz because of its Jewish population. Here Jews could no longer rely on olive oil from the south and used goose fat instead. Cold weather vegetables like cabbage and horseradish root were more prevalent than spinach and chickpeas. Beef became the Sabbath dish in pot au feu as opposed to the lamb or goat used in Hamim or Adafina to the south. Kugels, knaidlach (which we know as matzo balls), chopped liver, all well-known Ashkenazic recipes, started in this area and moved east.


On force-feeding of geese to produce foie gras

The most famous Talmudic scholar of this period was Rashi, whose home in Troyes, in the Champagne region, became one of the most important centers of Jewish life in Europe. Rashi’s commentaries on the Talmud and the Torah give fascinating glimpses into the cooking of northern France during this period. A thinker who knew about both religion and agriculture, he condemned the force-feeding of geese to produce foie gras, and the excessive amounts of goose fat that was essential to Jewish cooking in those days.
“Israel will one day pay the price for these geese,” he wrote, “… for having made these beasts suffer while fattening them.”
Throughout history French Jews have been grain merchants, cattle merchants, chocolate makers and chefs. They have worked at les Halles and Rungis and have enjoyed their version of French food, without the pork. They have made French food their own, just as their culinary traditions have seeped into the foods of their regions. In France, for instance, matzo or pain azyme is not simply the unleavened bread of Passover, but a well-loved diet food, marketed to women across the country, from all backgrounds since the Middle Ages.
French cuisine could not be what it is today without the influence of the country’s Jews.


http://zesterdaily.com/cooking/french-food-jews-jewish-dishes-recipes-influence-macarons/





A Short History of Foie Gras


Fifth Dynasty of Egypt (2498 BC – 2345 B.C.): The earliest images of geese being crammed with food date to this era, though it is not clear whether this produced foie gras as it is now known. Goose was a prized dish in the Egyptian monarchy. Circa 400 B.C. the Egyptians presented fattened geese as a gift to Agesilaus, King of Sparta.
http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-BN724_foiegr_20080530172446.jpgLiza Littlehawk for The Wall Street JournalLate second century B.C.: The Greek phrase "trypheron sykoton," which means foie gras, first appears in text by Julius Pollux, a Greek rhetorician.

Circa second century B.C.: Roman statesman Cato the Elder writes about the techniques of force-feeding geese in his book, "On Farming." The Romans used Jewish slaves to feed the geese. Later, these practices are assimilated into the Jewish aristocracy in Palestine.

Circa 77 A.D.: Philosopher Pliny the Elder writes in his "Naturalis Historia" about the Roman practice of soaking goose liver in milk and honey to increase its size. Pliny suggests that the governor of Syria (49–48 B.C.) invented the practice and delicacy.

Dark and Middle Ages: Due to dietary restrictions that forbade cooking with butter, poultry fat becomes a substitute -- and staple of the Jewish diet. After the fall of the Egyptian and Roman empires, the Jews keep alive the practice of fattening geese.

Circa 1100: Jews migrate to France and Germany, bringing with them their geese fattening traditions which included blinding the animals and nailing their feet to the floor.

1788: The governor of Alsace exchanges a pate de foie gras with King Louis XVI for a piece of land in Picardy. The king then begins offering Strasbourg foie gras throughout Europe, causing the dish's popularity to spread. (Strasbourg is the capital of the Alsace region in France.)

1800s: German immigrants filter into the midwestern U.S. Watertown, Wisconsin becomes the unofficial capital of foie gras in the U.S.
April 1912: The last dinner served on the Titanic was to include foie gras with celery. The foie gras would have been marinated, enhanced with truffles and baked en croute.

1950s - 1970s: French chefs begin to establish high-end French restaurants in Manhattan. Despite New York's reputation for sophistication, foie gras remains mostly known among German, Jewish and French immigrants. Foie gras begins to become more mainstream once it starts appearing on the menus of restaurants like Lutèce, opened in 1961.

1974: Norway's Animal Welfare Act bans force-feeding of all animals.

1991: Denmark bans forcible feeding of animals unless it's for medical purposes.

1993: Germany and the Czech Republic enact animal protection laws that outlaw force-feeding.

1996: Finland's Act on the Protection of Animals prohibits forcible feeding of animals for fattening purposes.

1999: Poland outlaws fattening geese and ducks for the purposes of harvesting their livers.

August 2000: The United Kingdom bans the production of foie gras.


January 2004: Force-feeding of birds becomes illegal in Italy.

September 2004: California bans the sale of foie gras and will end the practice of force-feeding by 2012. (Currently, only two U.S. farms -- one in New York and one in California -- produce foie gras.)

April 2005: Foie gras production becomes illegal in Israel.

April 2006: Chicago bans the sale of foie gras. The ordinance does not mention foie gras production.

February 2008: Prince Charles removes foie gras from all royal menus.

May 2008: Chicago overturns its ban on foie gras.



http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121207726422829649.html

[Old Herb Lady]

I don't need any friggin government telling me what I can or can't ingest, period! Don't eat it if ya don't want to, it'll decrease demand and it'll be cheaper or they'll quit making it.

I hear ya ! I LOVE alot of food that the gov't doesn't want me to ingest. I have a long list of them.

The foie gras is the DISEASED fatty liver of a tortured duck or goose.

People aren't just eating an animal's liver. They're eating its disease......fatty liver......that's what causes cirrhosis of the liver in humans.

[steel_ag]

http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_barber_s_surprising_foie_gras_parable.html

[joboo]

Ironically cats get liver lipidosis from starvation. Pretty horrible symptoms to witness when the liver gets affected like this (for cats anyways). Dirty blood, complete exhaustion, and the lungs fill up with fluid.

It's like watching your cat slowly suffocate. I've had the displeasure witnessing of this first hand right up until the decision to administer "the needle".

A properly functioning liver is so unbelievably vital, once the blood gets dirty, and it happens fast, it's a rapid decline. I imagine the headaches would be excruciating.

How it all works for ducks ...no idea. I'm sure it's not a fun time.

[Old Herb Lady]

Ironically cats get liver lipidosis from starvation. Pretty horrible symptoms to witness when the liver gets affected like this (for cats anyways). Dirty blood, complete exhaustion, and the lungs fill up with fluid.

It's like watching your cat slowly suffocate. I've had the displeasure witnessing of this first hand right up until the decision to administer "the needle".

A properly functioning liver is so unbelievably vital, once the blood gets dirty, and it happens fast, it's a rapid decline. I imagine the headaches would be excruciating.

How it all works for ducks ...no idea. I'm sure it's not a fun time.


http://liberationbc.org/sites/default/files/liver-leftnormal-rightforcefed.JPG
On the left, the liver of a healthy duck. On the right, the liver of a force-fed duck. (Photo: StopForceFeeding.com)


Ducks and geese suffer tremendously during and after the force-feeding process. Within just two weeks, their livers have become diseased and have swollen up to ten times their normal size—a condition known as hepatic lipidosis.



The birds can scarcely stand, walk, or even breathe, and have been observed panting and struggling to stand, using their wings to push themselves forward when their crippled legs can no longer support them.

"Grossly enlarged livers are less able to perform their function of cleansing the bloodstream of waste products from the body...the swollen livers also put pressure on the abdominal airsacs, which impairs the bird’s ability to breathe. They also push the legs out laterally, making it difficult for the birds to walk properly."
–Avian vet, Laurie Siperstein-Cook

Undercover footage from one foie gras farm shows ducks so weak that they are unable to fend off rats, which eventually eat them alive. They sometimes die when the metal feeding tubes puncture their necks, when their stomachs literally burst from the enormous volume of food they are forced to ingest, or when force-feeding overfills them to the point of suffocation. Many suffer from anal hemmorrhaging.

On some farms, a single worker is expected to feed 500 birds, three times a day. This leads to rushed, rough treatment on the part of the stressed workers, who have even been filmed literally throwing birds.

http://liberationbc.org/issues/foie_gras

[joboo]

Was thinking that was the case. Fat cells in the liver just don't belong there, and cause all kinds of problems. When the liver swells up like that it's extremely painful. All those dead rotting cells in the blood cascading back into the liver accelerating the entire process of decay and misery...blecchhhhh

The biggest thing in switching up to organic free range at every opportunity (for me) was to avoid eating suffering, and misery, and all the bad hormones involved with those realities. Especially with proteins.

Could be psychological, but I'm thinking there's probably more to it from a universal reality. Turning bad karma into the core building blocks of ones very being doesn't sit right with me. Trying to avoid it as much as possible.

[steyr_m]

Dunno, I personally don't g-a-f -- Foie Gras is tasty.

[Neuro]

Have it with FREEDOM fries!

[steyr_m]

Have it with FREEDOM fries!

Maybe, if I lived in the US.

I would definately be having "FREEDOM fries" if I lived in Switzerland. What would they call it there???? Freiheit Pommes Frites?

[Old Herb Lady]

Have it with FREEDOM fries!

Yes ! Clog up and fatten up and disease human livers , too !

[joboo]

Yes ! Clog up and fatten up and disease human livers , too !

Mmm...freedom fries, fava beans, and wash it all down with a nice chianti. Facemask optional.

[Neuro]

Maybe, if I lived in the US.

I would definately be having "FREEDOM fries" if I lived in Switzerland. What would they call it there???? Freiheit Pommes Frites?
I believe in Switzerland they refer to them as Talmud Frites...

[mamboni]

http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_barber_s_surprising_foie_gras_parable.html

Nice video - though the narrator was a wee bit too Jewish - GoD be warned! But, an instructive story to be sure. Sadly, such natural ecological farming is probably not a generally viable way to raise enough food to feed 7 billion humanoids. On the other hand, 500 millions seems doable. Hm, where have I heard the latter figure before?

[joboo]

Nice video - though the narrator was a wee bit too Jewish - GoD be warned! But, an instructive story to be sure. Sadly, such natural ecological farming is probably not a generally viable way to raise enough food to feed 7 billion humanoids. On the other hand, 500 millions seems doable. Hm, where have I heard the latter figure before?

Yeah, he was pretty much New York style. A nice story, and I totally envy that farmers lifestyle. Beautiful property.

[steel_ag]

I had to look up a word in the dictionary he used in his speech. I've never had foie gras before. I've had most other kinds of "offal" before though. My favorite offal: diced up beef/pig brains cooked up with squares of dried bread, diced onions and butter.

Definition of unctuous (adj)

bing.com · Bing Dictionary
unc·tu·ous
[ úngkchoo əss ]

excessively ingratiating: attempting to charm or convince somebody in an unpleasantly suave, smug, or smooth way
oily, fatty, or greasy: resembling or containing oil, fat, or grease
soft and rich: soft and rich in texture and easily workable, especially through containing a high proportion of organic material

Synonyms: ingratiating, sycophantic, obsequious, groveling, smug, phony, slimy, smarmy, creepy, oily

[singular_me]

animal cruelty is an issue.... but also foie gras is a SICK liver as the liver gets swollen due a liver failure It is in a per-cancerous state


edit: see OHLs post
http://gold-silver.us/forum/showthread.php?64354-Seriously-Foie-Gras&p=581676&viewfull=1#post581676

[mamboni]

animal cruelty is an issue.... but also foie gras is a SICK liver as the liver gets swollen due a liver failure It is in a per-cancerous state

Strictly speaking, it is a diseased liver but not a precancerous one. The ducks are force fed which causes the liver to accumulate excess calories as fatt deposits. The liver enlarges over five fold, virtually all of this as intracellular fat. But, this is not a precancerous state. It does however increase the risk of liver failure and portal hypertension.

[singular_me]

Strictly speaking, it is a diseased liver but not a precancerous one. The ducks are force fed which causes the liver to accumulate excess calories as fatt deposits. The liver enlarges over five fold, virtually all of this as intracellular fat. But, this is not a precancerous state. It does however increase the risk of liver failure and portal hypertension.

okay maybe have I talked too fast here when mentioning precancerous stage. :)

[Libertytree]

Hell, everything on the planet is in a precancerous stage, with onset, smack dab in the middle of it or dead.

[osoab]

Something to add to this discussion.

If it wasn't for the producers of these ducks, would these ducks have ever lived? Hmmmm.

I am guessing not many on this board have ever had to crack a hog over the head with a pickaxe handle. Yes, sometimes that action is necessary.

[zap]

Something to add to this discussion.

If it wasn't for the producers of these ducks, would these ducks have ever lived? Hmmmm.

I am guessing not many on this board have ever had to crack a hog over the head with a pickaxe handle. Yes, sometimes that action is necessary.

Why couldn't you just shoot it?

[osoab]

Why couldn't you just shoot it?

When you are trying to move them to the trailer or a different pen, shooting isn't at the top of the option list.

Normally a hard smack on the rear end will get them moving, but sometimes, they are pigheaded.

[JDRock]

What are you, gay? bwaaahahaa thats off the charts funny man!

[General of Darkness]

I think a few members missed what I was talking about.

[singular_me]

stop eating meat then (vegetarian 22 years). grew up on a farm. worked on several other farms my whole youth + college years. happens with everything you eat. none of it is humane.


mamboni: Perhaps we should all be vegetarian. I tried just that on several occasions. But after a week or two I felt sickly and craved meat. I supose I am just a caveman after all

I embraced vegetarianism 10 years ago as I basically think that all killings are wrong... today we know enough about vitamins and nutrients to replace all meats in our diet. IMHO.

okay I still have a small piece of organic chicken (direct from farm) once every 2 months, I confess. But thats pretty much it.

[Neuro]

I embraced vegetarianism 10 years ago as I basically think that all killings are wrong... today we know enough about vitamins and nutrients to replace all meats in our diet. IMHO.

okay I still have a small piece of organic chicken (direct from farm) once every 2 months, I confess. But thats pretty much it.
If you think all killing is wrong, and you eat a chicken every two months, doesn't that make you a worser person, compared to someone who doesn't think killing animals for food is wrong, and eats it every day?

[singular_me]

If you think all killing is wrong, and you eat a chicken every two months, doesn't that make you a worser person, compared to someone who doesn't think killing animals for food is wrong, and eats it every day?

yes it does... thats why I will eventually give up on my small piece of chicken...

but on the other end, if say 50% of population were like me, the meat industry would barely exist. wouldnt be cost effective. So people would have to raise their poultry or go hunt. If people had to kill animals with their own hands, things would be different. we arent cavemen anymore as we have now food stores.

Radicalism is not an answer though, everybody must see for himself. But it is definitely wrong to eat meat twice a day throughout the year.

[singular_me]

I am aware of the animal fat is good for you rhetoric and insulin free diets and I am not saying that it is a bad thing. But this doesnt mean that animals must suffer to please our tastes.

then Id say, start small farms co-ops with friends, make sure your animals have a GOOD life, free range and slaughter them decently. Use their fat for cooking and you will have the same results as eating foie gras.

One alternative is to eat worms and insects. :) In africa, they eat grilled grasshoppers and they will tell you that it is more tasty than butter and whipped cream. Tastes are absolutely arbitrary, the result of an education after all. In my mid 30s I have had a raw food diet for 2 years and I was eating raw meat and fish. Blood is tasty too once one gets used to. I still eat mostly raw since then. Today, I am sure I could survive in the wild and eat bloody meat again if I had to.

Cavemen were most likely meat oriented during winter and vegetarians the rest of the year. Until they found out about the values of salt to preserve meat but hey, that came much later, along with the first civilizations.

I think that it is absolutely ludicrous to expect humans to respect life as long as they cannot even treat well animals, that the latter end or not in our kitchens. That is my philosophy. Any sadistic act committed calls for its perpetuation. Just like violence begets violence.

Last thanksgiving I participated in the slaughter of 4 turkeys on the farm I was working on (well I was taking off their feathers once dead) and before each killing, they were doing a prayer (thanking them for their sacrifice in advance) and petting the birds for at least 15mins to calm it down. Animals know when time has come for them. I decided to go through the experience to know what it is like to take life from a creature and eat it afterwards. Very insightful. I consider my rapport with meat very natural/spiritual and why I am 95% vegetarian is the result of first hand experience. Not brainwashed by PETA I mean.




Rotund of Habitus? WTF is that?


Foie Gras is a sacred thing in traditional French Culinary Cuisine, which is the basis for Foie Gras and all the culinary arts. The French invented the culinary arts, and I'm telling you they have this shit down, despite what you may think of their loopy Socialist politics. Foie Gras is very healthy with tons of fat soluble Vitamin A and D. Another thing you guys need to understand is animal fat is GOOD FOR YOU! I'm serious! Eat animal fat as much as you can, it's extremely healthy (GMO corn fed animals aren't though.) What gets you fat is sugar, polyunsaturated oils, and improperly treated grains (especially wheat.) Look at Classical French cuisine and you find a lot of creams, red meat, and offal (sweetbreads, liver pate, foie gras, and so forth.) These are all very healthy and the model of the Weston A. Price diet.


I'm classically trained and cooked for a lot of super rich/powerful people. It's actually how I found out about the Elite/Illuminati since I met some of them and cooked for some of them here and there. Some of the cooks I worked with were talking about the Rothschilds, Federal Reserve, bankers, and how Israel ran the US but I didn't understand it then since I was a Socialist. It did sink in though and eventually I did research and found out they were right, got disgusted, and left the culinary field to pursue my own business. That's one of the first things that led me to you guys actually.


One time we cooked for President Bush (Jr.) and we did filet mignon topped with foie gras sorbet (yes, sorbet!) and a cherry demi-glace. I wish I had pictures since it was beautiful. That was amazing stuff, I'll tell you. You should experience real high end food before you knock it. There's a reason people pay top dollar for it.