I saw an episode of Gordon Ramsay's F Word in which one of his people visited a "conventional" Mom & Pop foi gras producer in France, and humane, free-range producer in Spain.
The filthy, cowering, squealing, terrified ducks in France broke my heart. So did their freakish livers, filling their entire body cavities.
It was clear that the gavage was painful and frightening. From what I know of ducks, they do not become less panicky with daily handling that hurts and scares them.
How could you?
The free-range geese, who fatten themselves up in the Fall -- a habit that hearkens to the natural need to store calories before the migration -- were perfectly happy birds.
Their livers are enlarged, but not diseased. The super-huge livers created by gavage are diseased, not just "big." What's it like living for even a few weeks with acute liver disease?
Just as I would eat a mother-raised veal calf, I'd eat that Spanish foi gras. But the diseased liver of a gavaged duck or goose? Not after seeing that video.
