California bans foie gras; foodies revolt

California bans foie gras; foodies revolt

Implicit in the protests against the foie gras ban is the concept that everyone should be able to eat everything they want, regardless of the moral cost. I think we can say that the moral overhead is pretty high with foie gras, the production of which is banned in many countries on the grounds of humane treatment.

The entitlement from the foodie crowd is, I must say, a little difficult to swallow (if you'll pardon the pun). I don't think people have a right to eat whatever they want just because it is tasty. You have to draw the line somewhere, and a lot of people draw the line at force feeding animals. On the other side of that line are questionable foods like lobster (boiled alive), veal (unable to move), dancing shrimp (eaten alive), whale meat and other such morally suspect delicacies.

Mind you, you can still make pate out of duck and goose liver. Connoisseurs wilt at the thought, but most people cannot tell the difference. Foie gras has always been popular partly because of its exclusivity and corresponding high price. If you could buy it at every gas station convenience store, I'm willing to bet people wouldn't get as excited about it.
 
No one needs foie gras. Foie gras does not contain vital nutrients that cannot be obtained elsewhere. No one will actually be harmed as a result of this ruling. But enthusiasts will argue that their lives will become a little more restricted, a little less interesting, without the ability to sample foie gras as a special treat at will. 
 
I have to say, I have limited patience for this line of argument. Everyone's lives are constricted somehow. I, for example, am denied the pleasures of owning a megayacht, strictly by virtue of the fact that I cannot afford one. And who's to say that whale meat isn't a delicious delicacy that I want - nay, deserve - to indulge in?
 
But when you start taking away people's toys, they get mad. Never mind that there are a million other delicacies in the world, delicacies which don't require force-feeding an animal until its liver is swollen to many times its normal size. People feel entitled to their entitlements!
 
On one point, the foodies do have a valid argument: who's to say that foie gras production is more or less humane than the conditions in America's slaughterhouses, pig farms, battery hen cages, and feed lots?