I don’t eat quinoa.
It’s never been kind to me. It may be lauded as delicious and nutritious, but those little wispy-tailed spheres have only ever given me grief: bloating, indigestion, gas, you name it.
I don’t know much about quinoa.
What I do know is that it’s a grain (yippee!), it’s served relatively unprocessed, and it kind of looks like couscous (which doesn’t give me violent diarrhea, and is a fun and enjoyable iteration of pasta).
What I also know is that quinoa consumption in the U.S. is a startling case of animal cruelty. In this case, the animals involved are human, so I can speak more intelligently about the issues at stake because I am also human, and have a certain understanding of the human intellect, human anatomy and biology, and the needs of humans in general.
To make a long story short, because of the high consumption of quinoa by 1st-worlder Vegans as a “cruelty-free meat substitute”, poor Peruvians and Bolivians can no longer afford their heretofore staple grain. According to an informative article published in The Guardian, “Imported junk food is cheaper. In Lima, quinoa now costs more than chicken.” In short, “It's beginning to look like a cautionary tale of how a focus on exporting premium foods can damage the producer country's food security.”
Joanna Blythman even throws in a helpful “Embarrassingly, for those who portray it as a progressive alternative to planet-destroying meat, soya [sic] production is now one of the two main causes of deforestation in South America”. See the full article here.
I don’t know much about quinoa. It seems like there are some areas of concern regarding its production, but I don’t know that I can speak definitively on whether it should be banned without manifesting my extreme bias.
But let us turn our attention to foie gras, which is made with the help and assistance of ducks right here in the USA.
In particular, let’s focus on foie gras farming in upstate New York. Now, I am no fowl (although at times I smell that way), but I spend a great deal of time with these birds, and I am fairly well-versed in their anatomy and physiology, their preferred diet, their capacities for dealing with certain foods, mineral deficiencies they are subject to, as well as their likes and dislikes.
For instance, ducks will often voluntarily consume sticks and rocks, spiky crustaceans, fish that seem too big for them to handle (whole), snails, small rodents, a variety of vegetable life, and even things you’d really want to prevent them from eating, such as plastic, metal … you get the picture. They’re like pig-dogs with feathers.
One would be hard-pressed to argue that a smooth plastic tube with a rounded end inserted gently (not “shoved” for profitability’s sake!) down the esophagus — stretchy, keratinous, and sans cartilaginous rings — of a Moulard duck. In fact, the Moulard has been developed quite specifically for foie gras farming, and so it’s uniquely suited to the practice.
Simply put, we’d have to argue that a wild duck has masochistic dietary habits if we wanted to press the matter.
Because, of course — and what the people for the “ethical” treatment of animals that will no longer exist if we acquiesce to their agenda won’t tell you — waterfowl also gorge themselves in the wild. That is, they make foie gras. It’s a migratory ability that all breeds farmed for foie gras also possess. Ducks store fat naturally in the liver (the “foie”). Humans don’t. It’s a major biological difference.
And this brings us to the crux of the matter. Is animal husbandry qua animal husbandry essentially cruel? And to judge animal husbandry with any equity, we must consider it at its best, because if it can be practiced in such a way that animals and the humans that care for them are both respected, then it is not essentially cruel.
But a duck must be respected as a duck. A human must be respected as a human.
One thing that is certain is that all animal husbandry involves biomimicry. The extent to which the animal can perform its natural behaviors and also be healthy and content in terms of its needs determines whether that biomimicry is exploitative or co-productive.
I’m not going to go into the philosophy of farming. Suffice it to say that I pursue farming practices that are co-productive. I am producing something special with the animal in all of its natural abilities and proclivities vs. exploiting the animal for mere profit.
Farming isn’t that profitable anyway. (Trust me. Don’t get into farming for the money.)
What I will say is that the kerfuffle in New York City is not about animal welfare. It’s about political posturing and “animal-rights activists” (is this a tongue-in-cheek phrase?) who truly wish to ban all meat consumption. Just read their mission statements. (Throwback to the quinoa craze: could those suffering farming families possibly be the same families who’ve fled to Sullivan County to farm foie gras? Perhaps at least they share some gripes with those people.) Do 1st-world bleeding hearts care about the real effects of their lobbying on man and beast as long as they can force a strange and very questionable agenda that opposes animal husbandry carte blanche?
Why else would a grand total of zero city-council members accept the invitations to visit the foie gras farms in question, but are completely content to destroy the fragile economy of one of NY’s poorest counties? Why else would these animal-rights activists target the minuscule world of foie gras farming rather than toxic, pollutant-ridden commercial swine batteries or the massive, bird-and-farmer-exploiting commercial chicken industry?
Let’s end where we began.
What do these council members know about foie gras farming? (What do they know about farming - period?)
What are the pre-conceptions that animal-rights activists are bringing with them to the table along with the bowl of cashews (another human rights issue, by the way)?
What do these people know (or care to know) about waterfowl biology?
What do they know about the South American immigrant families who work at these farms?
What do they know about the … wait for it … not French, but Israeli immigrants … who started NY’s largest foie gras farm?
What do they know about the economy of Sullivan County?
On the other hand, what do they know about election cycles, political polls, and which hot-button issues to exploit to press their personal interests or their pet agendas? Pun absolutely intended.
We’ll let you be the judge. Meanwhile, we’ll continue with our mission to carry on the important culture and ancient tradition of foie gras farming, respecting the land, respecting the animals, and respecting the people who have this vocation in life to steward the earth.
May God bless you, and may God bless Louisiana.
Avec amour,
Ross