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becoming madame, cooking, ducks, farming, foie gras, food, french cuisine, french culture, Life in Paris, lifestyle, Travel
During the holidays, as some of you may remember, we began a three-part series of videos on Foie Gras. Our first was on making homemade Foie Gras, then came our adventure at the foie market early on morning, and now we have the pleasure of presenting our final segment. The vendors who sold us our liver at the market invited us to their farm, which is in the south west region of France, for an afternoon to discover the traditional French methods of farming ducks for Foie Gras.
A great deal of controversy surrounds this French delicacy. Some believe it amounts animal cruelty. Others see is as a traditional French food, a way of raising an animal to produce a certain type of food that people adore.
I must say that before I moved to France I had never tried Foie Gras. I was against it on some undefined moral level without ever having given it much thought. I saw force-feeding an animal as an abuse. But I never thought about it any further or anymore profoundly than that. I certainly hadn’t been raised in a culture defined in important ways by it.
Since moving to France, I’ve discovered a world of Foie Gras. My belle-famille has a home in Dordogne which is right in the center of the Périgord – the duck region of France – where the gastronomy is littered with magret, confit, Foie Gras, paté, terrine, gésier and much more. I’ve developed a great appreciation for duck as a source of meat.
I wanted to better understand how Foie Gras was made right from the beginning, and so began this series. Our last video, below, shows how the ducks are raised, feed and de-feathered on a farm that practices traditional French methods.
I show it the way I saw it. If you have difficulties with this sort of thing, perhaps you shouldn’t watch. There is nothing disgusting or crude, but it may shock a sensitive eye.
My goal is not to rally for or disrepute duck farming. My aim is to show the reality so that each of us can knowingly make up our own minds.
I hope you find this informative.
Incredible documentary filming. I’ll probably never eat Foie Gras but I certainly found it interesting – in seeing this process of duck farming. So thanks for sharing.
Very interesting. I didn’t know they sell the ducks whole like that, I thought maybe they cut out the livers and then sold that seperately. I can imagine those wet feathers smelled, I’ve plucked chickens and those feathers put out an odor. Do they sell the feathers for down?
Interesting, albeit a little disturbing as a vegetarian…I like the scenes of the defeathering machines most (least?). Great job.
The idyllic setting gives your story much authenticity. This is enlightening though force feeding the ducks is a little discomforting. Great video!
Good for you, presenting the facts and letting people make up their minds. As a Toulousaine, raised in Southwestern France, and a frequent visitor to La Dordogne, how could i not enjoy foie gras? I must admit I try not to think to much about the geese when I savor it. It is not always easy being an animal lover when one is not a vegetarian… Veronique (French Girl in Seattle)
This was a fascinating glimpse into the behind the scenes process and not disturbing at all — just “reality” as you said, and well-documented. I cannot imagine such care going into the produce we eat (in the States) — in fact, I know first-hand how some animal products are “processed” and this was by far kinder and gentler. It was also touching to see the pride they took in their work, generation after generation. Really a terrific documentary!
…You just changed my mind about Foie Gras. These people care about their animals, raising them truly “dans la nature” and even the force feeding didn’t seem to bother them much. People who reject foie gras on ethical grounds should probably look into the extremely cruel conditions in which “free range” chickens are raised in the U.S. Semantics count for a lot in putting American minds to rest, but the reality is that normal poultry (the ones not force-fed to grow their livers) and egg-laying chickens are much worse off in many cases than these birds seem to be. All this to say that you did a fabulous job with the video. I am deeply impressed. Chapeau, Madame.
Thanks very much for your kind words. I’m so glad you found it informative. It was an eye-opening experience for me too. Take care!
After seeing news reports here in the US of how animals are “harvested”, this shows some humanity in the process. The ducks live longer than in the US, they don’t seem the least disturbed by the forced feeding and the de-feathering and preparing for market is done with care. Thank you for sharing your experience.
Pastured ducks raised to be excellent food! Wonderful! I shared this with my 2 local meat farmers. They raise everything except ducks!
This is a great post – personally I wasn’t at all disturbed by the force feeding, those ducks don’t look distressed to me, and they are fed much less than I thought they were. Would you be OK with sharing your first hand impressions of the animals’ experience?
Sure, I’d be happy to. I wasn’t shocked either, in fact, by the feeding. When we were in the room with the dead ducks all hanging around being bled and the defeathering process – when the featherless body starts to look a little human – I swallowed a little harder. But all in all, I personally thought the whole process very humane. Thanks for stopping by!
Thanks so much for all the info, it’s all going towards figuring out how I feel about foie gras!
Thanks for sharing
I really enjoyed reading it! Foie Gras looks really tasty!
I don’t like the force feeding but the process doesn’t look as cruel as I imagined, in fact the ducks look hardly bothered. Fascinating video.
Your blog definitely makes me feel home sick!
Thanks for this interesting article which show that the process is not inhuman.
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