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Lark chef/owner John Sundstrom says despite protests by a local animal rights group, he will not stop serving foie gras. He says he and his staff respect the protesters’ right to their opinion; his approach has been to be “open and nonconfrontational and let them exercise their rights.” The protests are in their fourth week.

Two weeks ago, Sundstrom met with representatives from the group—the Northwest Animal Rights Network—and both sides expressed their positions, which appear to be irreconcilable. Sundstrom says, “We just feel like they’re being extreme, to take away people’s choice.… They say they’re not giving up, and we’re not going to cave in to them. It’s a big drag, and in a lot of ways it’s kind of silly.”

NARN intends to protest at Lark “EVERY FRIDAY 7-8PM UNTIL THEY REMOVE FOIE GRAS FROM THE MENU.”

Sundstrom says some customers have been “extremely upset” by the protests, but not as intended—some have gone outside to tell the protesters that targeting a small business is wrong and that they ought to be ashamed.

Another unintended result of the protests: Foie gras has become more popular at Lark. “We see foie gras sales go up on Friday nights,” says Sundstrom. Some people order it to “spite the protesters” chanting outside, he says, while others want to see “what the fuss is about.” “We don’t shut the blinds unless a customer asks,” he says. Some neighbors have been annoyed by the noise, which was “super loud” the week before he met with NARN representatives; after talking it over, the protesters reduced their volume (though on Friday, the chanting outside Lark’s windows could be heard clearly for some distance on 12th). Sundstrom says that while the police have come by to check in, neither he nor other Lark staff has called them.

Lark’s foie gras comes from Sonoma-Artisan Foie Gras, founded in 1985 by a couple from El Salvador who apprenticed with the Dubois family in the Perigord region of France. Details about their practices can be found on the Sonoma-Artisan Foie Gras website, which says, “Sonoma-Artisan Foie Gras is committed to the highest standards of animal welfare, and utilizes humane techniques in the raising and feeding of ducks.”

Here celebu-chef Anthony Bourdain visits a foie gras farm. Fast-forward to 1:45 for force-feeding footage and Bourdain’s discussion with a veterinarian about the practice:

I remain firm in my opinion from this previous post: Groups like NARN should focus on larger issues—the practices and environmental impact of giant agricultural corporations like Tyson and Hormel, for instance. Other animals are suffering; geese raised for foie gras, humanely treated, are not.

170 replies on “Foie Gras Protest at Lark: Chef/Owner John Sundstrom Responds”

  3. The last two to three weeks of the animals life are obviously not humane, unless forcing the animal to suffer acute hepatic lipidosis is humane. I agree that there are much more important targets out there, but the fact that the duck’s or gooses’s suffering only lasts a week or two while the feedlot cows lasts a lot longer hardly makes it more humane.
    By analogy the bucolic months a steer spends in the fields prior to being shipped off to the feedlot would justify what happens there as humane. After all you’ve given the steer months of a happy life grazing in the fields, and the feedlot experience is compartively short. So what’s the big deal.
    If I were ranking inhumanely produced meats I’d probably put foie gras toward the bottom of the list (after cage raised fowl and laying hens, veal, and grain finished cattle). In the scheme of things it’s not such a big deal, but that doesn’t make it humane.

  4. Sounds like a clever plot by Chef Sundstrom to increase sales of Foie Gras at his establishment: get a bunch of wacko animal rights activists to protest out front, thus ensuring a commensurate counter-protest by goose liver loving patrons, who in turn buy even more than they would have had there been no protest in the first place.

    Well played, sir! Well played indeed!

  6. Hey, if I saw someone kicking their dog at the park, I’d look the other way. After all, it probably feels really good to the guy doing the kicking, and people might think I was a wacko if I said something. Besides, animals and humans are not the same, so I can’t speak for how the dog must feel. God put them on this earth as resources for people, right?

  8. Against child abuse? Don’t do it. Against raping women? Just don’t do it yourself, but this is a free country and you have to let other people make their own choices. Too bad for the women, though, I guess…

  10. I’ll be there chef! Do you serve a veal dish too and have some nice Rhone wines.

    A big part of the hysterics also seems to be class envy by angry little white kids.

  11. the slog writers are decidedly mixed. half produce interesting, engaging commentary on seattle news, culture and events. the other half produce decidedly ridiculous articles with shoddy journalistic standards. beth, sweetheart, ending your posts with false blanket statements with reasoning similar to a charged up 15 year old in civics class makes you look childish and ensures your placement in the latter slog writer camp.

  12. So, let me get this straight: between the human cruelty we’re inflicting in the wars we’re currently in, and foie gras being served in restaurants, these people pick foie gras as a bigger hurt on the national conscience, huh? What. The. Fuck. Ever.

    I hope Mr. Sundstrom keeps serving foie gras at his restaurant until hell freezes over.

  13. The legal action surrounding foie gras production indicates that it is not humane. Most recently, the National Advertising Division of the Better Business Bureau recommended that a purportedly ethical artisan foie gras producer discontinue making claims that its foie gras is produced humanely because that claim defied a reasonable consumer’s expectations. In California, Sonoma Farms was prosecuted for animal cruelty and the charges were dropped as part of a compromise that included a statewide ban of foie gras production that will go into effect in 2012. The Israeli Supreme Court, using a cost-benefit analysis, determined that the cruelty inherent in foie gras was unjustifiable.

    As to why NARN is protesting the sale of foie gras, it is because cruelty is inherent in the design of the product. Foie gras can’t be produced without forcing a metal pipe down a bird’s throat and pumping the gullet full of feed, causing the liver to expand to several times its normal size. Unlike other cruel practices in factory farming, like battery cages and sow gestation crates, the cruelty is not just a byproduct of the economics of large-scale industrial farming. If a movement is predicated upon ending needless suffering, inherently cruel products are a logical starting point.

  15. People who insist on anything are willing to believe whatever is convenient. What’s the line?….It’s hard to get someone to believe something when his livelihood depends on him not believing it.

    Foie gras is pricey and that’s part of its appeal. I’m reminded of the movie, “The Freshman,” where wealthy people pay fortunes to eat an entree made from an endangered species. (The joke is…they’re actually getting chicken, but the patrons don’t know that.)

    I’m with #6 and hooray for cruelty-free foods.

  16. I don’t doubt that some people have ordered foie gras to spite us, but I’ve also seen diners give us a thumbs up from their tables. One man even handed a wad of cash to a NARN representative on his way out. And of course, some folks have made the decision not to go inside at all. This has hardly been a wasted effort.

    And again, let me reiterate that there is no such thing as humane foie gras. This video is a heavily glossed up version of the truth. Read here about both the Hudson Valley Farm that Bourdain visited and the Sonoma-Artisan Foie Gras Farm, which supplies Lark.

  17. There it is, more class envy. And another comparing fois gras to rape. Have u been to a rape crisis center to share that opinion with some rape victims?

  19. Bethany, you’ve now provided as “proof” that foie gras is humanely produced a travel show, and Anthony Bourdain, who is very vocal in his hatred of vegetarianism. You use these two clips to assert that geese for foie gras are raised humanely. Yet you completely disregard the evidence of large-scale factory farms producing foie gras that raise geese in horrid conditions, the fact that many countries ban foie gras production because they have determined it is cruel, and that the EU is working on an EU-wide ban of foie gras production.

    Go ahead and stick to your guns. But you know what you are? A Stupid Fucking Credulous Hack. If Dan or Dominic have any guts, they’ll nominate you as SFCH of the Week, just as they do many other local reporters that use specious claims and slanted evidence to prove their points in the media.

  21. I have been at 3 of the protests at Lark. The protests have been respectful and so has Lark. But, a hostess WAS at the window one Friday phone in hand watching us and the police arrived shortly afterwards. Coincidence? Maybe.

    Also, I have personally emailed Lark’s chef to ask for information and received no reply. Curious that he would reply to a sympathetic writer, but not a polite question via their website. I had asked where their supply of foie gras came from, again no response.

    Sonoma’s foie gras farm has had undercover investigations showing abuses as well as Sonoma Saveurs (Sonoma Foie Gras’ restaurant) put out of business by boycott. The Hudson Valley video with Bourdain has also been investigated for animal abuses as well, with videos etc. Do you really think Bourdain and Hudson Valley are going to present anything other than a positive happy video of what goes on there?

    So again, Bethany, nice try on your biased investigative work.

    P.S. ~ When will you be speaking with NARN regarding this issue?

  22. The one time I tried foie gras I did not like it. A lot of my friends do like foi gras so the next time I treat them to dinner we will go to the Lark and order it. It is my way to give direct material support to the chef/owner and express soildarity for his right to keep it on the menu.
    I am also linking this story to some other networks and bloggs in the hope that I can help send more business his way. It sounds like the owner is very reasonable and is keeping a cool head. Notice, NARN that he respects your CHOICE and right to protest.

  23. Bethany! Don’t let this happen to you! Staying out of “Stupid Fucking Credulous Hack of the Day” is easy! Just make sure your next piece about foie gras includes a quote from someone other than a rabid carnivore, a restaurant owner, or travel show. Bury at least one brief quote from a critic of foie gras, someone who can comment on the horror of its production — rarely is the question asked, is foie gras really humane?—and you won’t be named “Stupid Fucking Credulous Hack of the Day” on Slog! It’s that easy!

    http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/beho…

  24. At Sonoma Foie Gras, investigators encountered many birds with festering gaping wounds on their rears. Investigators documented two birds literally being eaten alive by a rat. In the isolation cages of Hudson Valley, many birds had painful open wounds and stained the birds in adjacent cages with their blood.

  25. “I have personally emailed Lark’s chef to ask for information and received no reply”

    Why should he answer you? We still live in a free fucking country you know, free to ignore pro-life assholes like you.

  26. @16:

    But, if, as Sundstrom claims, he is selling MORE foie gras aprez protest than he was BEFORE you started protesting – it doesn’t matter how many people give you a “thumbs up” or (anecdotally) don’t walk in – your protest is still having 180 degrees the OPPOSITE EFFECT of its intention.

    In short, your group is now directly responsible for increasing foie gras consumption at Lark, not reducing or eliminating it – so, yeah, heckuvajobthere!

    And, um, maybe the person who handed you the “wad of cash” either thought you were homeless, or that it would make you go away, or he was tipping you on the excellent recommendation of the foie gras, which he enjoyed immensely!

  27. @ 16 – “I don’t doubt that some people have ordered foie gras to spite us.”

    Have you thought that maybe they’re doing it to spite the goose?

    I think you folks might be overestimating your impact a wee bit…

  28. Lark’s menu shows that they serve “Sonoma Foie Gras”. I wonder if this is the same “Sonoma Foie Gras” as…

    The activists found barrels of ducks that died before their livers could be harvested, others still barely alive. They also watched ducks too weak or overweight to defend themselves against the rats at Sonoma Foie Gras. Rats were eating these two ducks alive and you can see evidence of similar battles on several other ducks.

    …

    The I-Team met with the owner of Sonoma Foie Gras, Guillermo Gonzalez, and he agreed to give an interview and tour of the ranch. The next day, he backed out. During our meeting, Gonzalez told us the pictures you saw are typical of any farming operation. But, he admits he does have work to do to make the process more humane.

    http://lists.envirolink.org/pipermail/ar…

    Sounds real humane, Bethany.

  29. Seriously, I’m going this week, and the next, and the next. I had never heard of Lark or that it served fois gras til this protest. Thanks. I hope to blow at least $200 everytme I go with some friends. Then the pro-lifers outside can hate me for being rich AND eating fois gras.

    What better way to get these angry, spoiled, suburban white fuckups angry?

  30. I will say this for NARN. At least this protest is different than some others I have seen you at. I used to see them sometimes outside the opera yelling at little old ladies who had fur coats. What guts! I always wonder why they did not go to biker bars and confront people who have leather clothes. I think it has something to do with a lack of courage. I choose not to have fur products, but I will enable others to do so at will.

  31. Doesn’t Sundstrom have every motive to lie and claim foi gras sales increased in response to the protests? It’s an obvious ploy to trick the protesters into leaving.

  32. HEATHER! Are you the one who invented that biker/old lady fur/leather cliche? You’re the one? You’re like a legend for that one.

  33. These folks really didn’t think through this very well – the only consequence of all this publicity has been to remind me it’s time to visit Lark again. I bet business is booming.

  34. When did animals get the same rights (except in California where they have more rights than gays) as humans.

    Everytime I hear of a story it makes me want to whip some some tender veal and foie gras with some Chilean Sea Bass for dinner. Oh yeah, and Sea Kittens; let’s not forget some fresh Sea Kitten.

  37. Ugh… it’s totally ridiculous to just issue a blanket statement that “geese raise for foie gras, humanely treated, are not”. I’m actually a little embarrassed of Slog right now…

    I am not vehemently on one side of the issue or the other, but to ignore the fact that there are farms that do, without a shadow of a doubt, treat their geese/ducks inhumanely in the production of foie gras, well, it’s just pretty ludicrous.

    Look, if you really like foie gras, fine. But, foie gras is like any other meat. The responsible thing to do is to find out where it comes from and ensure that their farming practices are humane (and environmentally sound).

  38. Don’t you have every motive to lie and claim foi gras sales decreased in response to the protests?

    Seriously, is this the power of the debate skills you learned at Evergreen State shinning here? Even my 3 year old could debate you into the ground.

  39. So if I’m understanding NARN correctly as soon as Lark takes foie gras off the menu NO ONE anywhere will ever eat foie gras again. Or are they going to move on to the next restaurant that serves it? And on and on until foie gras consumption all over the world ceases to exist?

    Or do they just have a beef with Lark?

  40. Wish I could take credit, #32. It is actually just wide spread common sense rearing it’s head. I used to accompany my aunt to the opera and sometimes put myself between her and the zealots to protect her and her fur coat. Nobody has to answer to NARN for wearing fur when where they choose to do so. Despite NARN this is still a free country.

  41. “The responsible thing to do is to find out where it comes from”

    I agree. But these clowns will STILL want to ban it, so why bother? Fuck ’em I say, and wash it down with a bottle of Guigal.

  42. That was the best video you could find? It is kind of ridiculous as a source of evidence. It might actually be a good story to find out the source of the foie gras at that restaurant, visit the farm, or find other reports.

    Otherwise, your posts are just misinformation.

  43. @21-
    “Do you really think Bourdain and Hudson Valley are going to present anything other than a positive happy video of what goes on there?”
    have you actually watched the show before? theres CONSTANT footage of less than tasteful renderings of animal food product. thats the deal with the show. in other words, they would’ve LOVED to have filmed footage of shocking animal abuse. it wouldve been great for ratings. they filmed the truth.

  44. I would think there would be a rather simple way to determine whether more or less foie gras is being consumed, @31. The NARN folks are there every Friday, so why don’t they just poll patrons as they come out?

    “Excuse me, did you order foie gras tonight?”

    If yes, then follow up with:

    “And was your decision to order foie gras in direct response to the anti-foie gras protest?”

    If yes again, then you’ve pretty much gauge’d the effectiveness of the protest.

    If NARN doesn’t feel comfortable being that confrontational (although I can’t imagine why), a second method would be to find out who distributes the foie gras to Lark, and see whether they’re making more deliveries, or delivering in larger quantities. Of course, the distributor, rightfully fearful of reprisals from NARN, might be reluctant to divulge this information, but you guys are nothing if not persistent, right?

  45. Besides Prop 2 in California which passed with 63.5%, prohibiting calf and pig confinement crates, Arizona Proposition 204 passed in 2006, having the same effect as Prop 2. In 1988 California prohibited trapping of fur-bearing animals, with 57.5% in favor. The same year that Missouri banned cockfighting, with 62.6% in favor.

    Those are just some recent ballot initiatives. Animal rights has had many other successes, such as the foi gras ban in California, and devastating the fur industry.

    So according to internet trolls, animal rights activism is counterproductive and makes them consume more animal products. Yet there don’t seem to be enough internet trolls to win at the ballot box. One angry loser at his keyboard spewing old slogans doesn’t seem to do much to change the world.

    And HEATHER? You retarded slut. How many cows would be saved if everyone quit buying leather? None! Zero. Why? Hamburgers! How many fur animals would be saved? All of them! Why? No such thing as a mink burger! See how stupid you look when you go around repeating things without thinking? Yeah. Pretty fucking stupid.

  47. #29 – You are going to spend at least $20.00 – honey – they will ask you to leave, or, at leat project that, if you get in.

    And the food is over rated, the place is small, and full of straight people.

  48. Let’s see – Michael Phelps has let you down by smoking pot; that incredibly fertile unmarried woman has ruined your life by mothering 14 children; Obama has failed thus far to live up to your expectations.

    It’s clear that while you can’t say it to the geese, the fowl, the kine and the fishies, someone should say it to you: “Get a life…”

  50. Um, by definition, foie gras isn’t a humane practise. They’re force feeding them, there’s nothing humane about that.

    Usually I agree with you slog posters, and like the stuff you post, but seriously Bethany? How could you possibly support foie gras? Yeah, there are other big issues out there. But, this is a problem too. I’m kind of disappointed with you right now slog…

  51. This is so stupid. The US is crippled by this tendency to reduce all complex issues into a zero-sum, winner takes all shouting match. We’re not going to survive if we can’t figure out how to solve problems without ripping each other to shreds.

    Here’s a tip. If one side wins and the other loses, that’s not a solution. Solutions involve working together to reach a shared goal. Surely NARN could do better than trying to force Lark to submit to their demands?

  52. This post reminded me that I’ve been meaning to check out Lark for a long time now, and I appreciate that the owner isn’t caving in to these nutcases. I’ll be taking my wife this week, but I’m not sure if foie gras really appeals to me. Does anyone have an entree recommendation?

  53. oh no! #45 called me a “retarted slut” I must go hang my head in shame….

    Not much interested in saving cows myself. I have bigger fish to fry. (ha ha ha) Even though going to Lark will now be even more delicious it is still a rare treat. In the mean time (get it MEAN time) I will continue to be a regular at Dicks’s Drive In. Their burgers are to die for. (bring on the usual drivel about burgers and heart disease)
    NARN people should try to find some kind of non animal tested chill pill. There are alot more things to do in this world than trying to tell us all how to live our lives and what to eat. Life can be a banquet, but you cannot attend if you keep yelling at the rest of us.

  54. “LARK IS A FAV OF THOSE SHO THINK THEY ARE TOO HIP”

    Or maybe a way to get away from people like you who ooze class envy like puss.

  55. You lukewarm moralists can fuck off. “Oh noes! The majestic goose is hurted!” Yeah, well, until it develops the capacity to learn not to shit where its neighbors are walking, it can expect more of the same.

    Cruel by design? Fucking guns are cruel by design. Bombs and tanks, designed for maximum kill zone. But no, you can only protest where it’s safe and trendy – too scared to go to the military base or the proving grounds?

  56. @ 50 — foie gras is in no way defined by being inhumane. gavage, maybe, but check out my link @ 46.

    I dunno you guys. Doesn’t seem like anything to make a fuss over if these guys do it to themselves naturally.

  57. If you achieve your goal and customers don’t order foie gras, and instead order the steak tartare, or even if the people go down the street to Dick’s for a couple of burgers, what have you really accomplished for the animal rights cause?

  58. “You lukewarm moralists can fuck off.”

    Now, I’m totally pro-choice, right up to birth, and in the case of animal rights activists, maybe beyond birth.

    Now, what I can’t understand is how these animal-buggerers, sorry ‘lovers’, think it’s bad to eat fois gras, but dilating a woman, pulling out a viable baby, sucking it’s brains out and then throwing the whole thing in the trash is ok. This they find morally acceptable and won’t protest, but provide some food for people and they get hysterical.

  59. I have little sympathy for the protestors, but Bethany, this is about the lamest, most credulous, excuse-making post I’ve seen on Slog.

    Except for anything by ECB, of course.

  60. 34 Publius-
    Last time I checked, you have room to stand up and turn around. As well as the many, many things you have the right to do. Like stay off of Lark’s dinner table.

    Animals in California and everywhere else do not have such rights. You aren’t making any sense with the hyperbole “When did animals get the same rights (except in California where they have more rights than gays) as humans.”

  61. Excellent video sure it is slanted towards eating Foie Gras, just like narn’s are complete manipulated and skewed against it.

  62. (1) Yes, the protesters are a bit silly. There is some real cruelty going on in some of the videos linked in yesterday’s comments. But do you really think the chickens raised for KFC are treated any better? Farming in general is kinda gross and marginally humane at best. Get real.

    but… (2) come on, Bethany. That clip of Bourdain has got to be one of the most egregious puff pieces I’ve ever seen passed off as journalism. If that’s your best shot at convincing people that foie gras is humane, then you have a pretty weak argument.

  63. Damn if these angry vegans had half a brain they’d be dangerous. Fortunately, studies show that healthy brain development depends on the consumption of meat. Without it the brain become atrophied and fails t develop. I think that we have seen plenty of evidence of it here.

  65. Wow, this post is crazy. All I have to say is, if you are trying to convince anyone to your side or way of thinking, you are not going to do it with insults and name calling. I hope that your protests at Lark are at least above all of this. Otherwise, yikes, good luck to ya.

  66. Hey Modern Lovers and Lonely Hearts,

    Just thought I’d mention that not only will the protest of foie gras be happening next Friday 7-8 pm at you-know-where…but also the following day, Valentine’s Day as well.

    So, grab your sweetheart and come one down.

    And Bethany, despite your lazy biased “reporting” work…at least you’ve given us another forum to discuss this and put information out…which I know isn’t what you intended, but it surely is a nice by-product.

  68. Yeah, I’m with Reverse Polarity’s #2… trotting out a Bourdain video as “proof” that foie gras in general is humane is not a solid argument. Bourdain is a RABID supporter of foie gras (seriously, did you see the recent Chicago episode, he would not shut up about the foie gras ban).

    The video shows only that some foie gras is humanely produced. Although, that’s still debatable, since there are people who think that gravage itself is inhumane.

  69. I was just eating a patty melt I made myself.

    Do y’all think I should put somma that foil grass on my sandmich?

    Someone says it tastes like liverwurst or something…

  70. You mean the former ban in Chicago, it’s back on the menu. Had some last summer on Wicker Park. If these nuts think they’re winning, Chicago is proof that people can be brought back to their senses.

  74. I cannot understand why more people don’t get that the concept of killing a sentient creature, let alone torturing it, for the benefit of your personal tastebuds is absolutely fucking messed up. It’s unsustainable, bad for the environment, bad for your health, bad for the animals, and often bad for the human workers involved – what is the point? The argument for meat is dead.

  75. @70, yes, up until a month ago, I lived in Chicago, and it wasn’t exactly a group of nuts that was responsible for the ban. It was a pet issue of an alderman and the city council voted to enact it. I can tell you that only a tiny fraction of Chicagoans even remotely cared one way or the other. I was not among them. The council only voted to overturn the ban because Chicago was getting negative press.

  77. Notes to self:

    1. Add this to list of “why I’m happy I don’t live in Seattle.” No whackadoodle nut-job kooks carrying on about a little paté.

    2. The more I hear from Heather, the more I like her. You’re alright, darlin’.

  78. Minger and Heather, go eat your precious liver. As for me, I’ve never wanted to be a vegetarian more, after all your hysteria. Bethany, stick to your guns if you must, but perhaps you could muster some humility and consider other perspectives before digging in.

  79. Using an Anthony Bourdain video as “proof” that foie gras geese are raised in a humane manner is about the sloppiest form of journalism I’ve seen on Slog. I’m curious as to what really went on that night, Bethany. Was Lark comping your meal? Is John Sundstrom your boyfriend? Did your dinner companion disagree with you over the foie gras protesters and ruin your meal?

    Your first post makes you sound like you have a giant chip on your shoulder; in your second post you sound really sound like you’re making a desperate reach for credibility, while completely ignoring valid concerns about the production of foie gras, and Sonoma Foie Gras in particular.

    Now I know your colleagues there at the Stranger have a term for people in the media who do reporting like this… obvious bias, spurious evidence, claims from one side of the issue and not the other, slanted reporting, and a clear abandonment of basic good journalistic practices. Your colleagues freely lob this term at their fellow journalists in the local media.

    What is that term again….? Say it with me, Bethany: “Stupid Fucking Credulous Hack”.

  81. Could you please stop anthropomorphizing ducks and geese. They are not people, they have no gag reflex. I would be unhappy to have a metal tube shoved down my throat and grain dumped in, but I am not a duck. I would also not like floating around in Lake Washington right now, but ducks seem to love it. Migratory birds evolved the capability to store fat in their liver so that they could convert it to fuel during their migrations. It’s not diseased, nature intended for their livers to get filled with fat.

    The ducks at the two foie gras farms in the US are treated far better throughout their lives than 99% of the animals eaten in this country. The only reason that NARN and PETA and everyone else picks on foie gras is because hardly anyone eats it. For some reason they think if they can get success there, they’ll move on to making everyone vegetarian. They are seriously deluded.

    I myself was a vegetarian for quite some time, but people like NARN drove me away. I also realized I could do more for animal welfare by supporting people who practice good animal husbandry. I like the fact that I’m helping keep heritage breeds of cows and pigs from going extinct by eating them.

  82. I have been at 3 of the protests at Lark. The protests have been respectful and so has Lark. But, a hostess WAS at the window one Friday phone in hand watching us and the police arrived shortly afterwards. Coincidence? Maybe.

    That’s comedy. The hostess was on a phone? They never use phones. Unless…

  86. Foie Gras is great. It lets you know who the elitist assholes are in your circle of friends. Bone marrow, foie gras, and cooking/rendering w/ pig fat does not make you sophisticates, it makes you annoying, arrogant assholes. I’ll be laughing when Lark and Quinns and the other places for rich yuppies to eat go out of business. YOU ARE NOT FRENCH! GET OVER IT!

  87. @84
    Damn, i wish Paseo was open today. If it was I’d go get me one of their Pork sandwiches. I don’t know how the pig was treated on the farm but what ever they did made them absolutely delicious!

  88. I’m so glad apathetic@74 dared to speak to the real issue here, and what is driving much of the bile directed in this thread back at NARN and “animal rights” groups: they are really dedicated to eradicating all omnivorism, and won’t rest until we are all vegans. No thanks.

  89. Details about their practices can be found on the Sonoma-Artisan Foie Gras website, which says, “Sonoma-Artisan Foie Gras is committed to the highest standards of animal welfare, and utilizes humane techniques in the raising and feeding of ducks.”

    Bethany, the best you can do is quote the foie gras producer? Why don’t you go start eating any product with peanut butter in it that you can get your hands on? After all, the peanut factory says it’s product is safe. Oh, and I’m sure WaMu would have been glad to give you an ARM with no money down for a house you couldn’t possibly afford. I mean, they *said* it was okay, so why should you think any differently?

  91. ” I’ll be laughing when Lark and Quinns and the other places for rich yuppies to eat go out of business”

    Yuppie? Wow, I thought that word died in the 80s. Why so envious of other’s wealth? And btw, it won’t be the rich yuppies who suffer, they’ll always be places for us to spend our money. It’ll the restaurant staff who will suffer including the dish washers, waiters and lowly paid sous chefs.

    Me? I’ll always be able to fly to France every year to enjoy fois gras at Le Grand Véfour. I know you f*kers won’t b e there because can’t even afford the bus fare to Seatac since your mommies and daddies cut off your allowances.

  93. But perhaps I am being a little too hard here. I can be a bit of a pretensious hack myself. It is just that I get these terrible ass bleeds whenever I smell meat.

    And it can be quite embarrassing. I can’t even go out to a restaurant without worrying whether the back of my pants will be a blood soupy mess. Last time people were just pointing and laughing at my ass as I fled the place. So, I have vowed that one day I will be the one laughing. I will have my revenge on you meat eating pointers! and perhaps my ass will stop bleeding long enough for me to laugh the good laugh!

  94. ” I’ll be laughing when Minger and the other trolls drop off of Slog”

    Troll? Wow, I thought that word died in the 90s. Why so envious of other’s comments? And btw, it won’t be the commenters who suffer, they’ll always be places for us to spend our money. It’ll the trolls who will suffer including Minger, lowly little Minger.

    Me? I’ll always be able to fly to France every year to enjoy eating trolls at Le Grand Véfour. I know you won’t b e there because can’t even afford the bus fare to Seatac since your mommy and daddy cut off your allowance.

  95. “People who eat at Lark are total self-absorbed assholes. “

    It’s that what you think when you come up and press your faces in the window like street urchins? Ignoring you angry little clowns doesn’t mean we’re self absorbed, it means we simply don’t give a sh*t about your opinion, like about 99% of the planet.

  96. Dan and Dominic, ECB, you’re the ringleaders on lobbing this term at other reporters in the city… Are you reading? Do you have the guts to call out one of your very own colleagues as Stupid Fucking Credulous Hack? Or is Slog above the rules to which you hold the rest of the local media?

  98. “Tent City projects”

    You mean help humans? These people hate humans. They’d rather get an abortion than let animal fat touch their lips.

    And remember vegan girls, any girl who will put fois gras in her mouth, will put anything in her mouth. I learned that after 5 years living in Paris.

  101. So based on the comments of one celeb-chef who goes to ONE farm to see how they do it….all of a sudden it’s a humane practice? give me a break. If the ducks liked it so much you could just put out the food and they would overeat that much on their own.

    If we are higher up on the food chain we could at least have the courtesy of killing our food quickly and not doing ridiculous crap like shoving metal pipes down their throat and filling them with food.

    I eat meat, grew up on farms and ranches, and I still won’t eat foie gras, or veal.

  102. Bethany,

    You’re a blogger. Telling Animal Rights activists where and how to spend their time only illustrates in painfully bright light how desperate you are to be read. Now I understand why your most popular pieces in the print edition were accompanied by pictures of dead or dying animals.

  103. Quoting 41: ” Fuck ’em I say, and wash it down with a bottle of Guigal.”

    No, no, one drinks Sauternes with foie gras.

    This whole “debate” reminds me of a lot of the non-sense spewed by the anti smoking jihadists. It’s nothing to do with “health” or “sustainability” in spite of what they claim. To a certain element of the neo puritanical lifestyle police, it is not enough that they themselves have chosen to ascetically forsake many of life’s pleasures. No, they are unable to enjoy their virtuous vegan, smoke and fur free life knowing that somebody, somewhere out there might be indulging in a pleasure for which they have no taste.

    And by the way, I have been on farms in southwest France where they raise and process foie gras. Unless you take the position of the vegan–any use of animal products is by definitions cruel and inhumane–then you would find that these small scale artisanal farmers have perhaps the most humanely cared for and raised animals in the world. But, hey, don’t let facts get in the way of your righteous boycott.

  105. Actually, maybe next time I got to Larks, I’ll do the sauternes with foie gras, but then run over to the nearest vegan restaurant and take my dump there as a counter protest.

  106. Can anyone recommend a good vegan place on the Hill I can take a big meaty sh*t in next Friday evening? Somewhere I can take a really noisy, grunting, cheek flapper of a cr*p that will stink up the whole place with the smell of well-digested meat and fois gras?

  109. I live in Chicago, and work in the food industry and the total effect the ban had on foie gras consumption was nil. Restaurants changed their menus and the foie was suddenly a hidden part of the dish. Since it wasn’t being “sold” it didn’t count. ONE-count it-ONE establishment was fined, and it was a unique hot-dog place called Hot Doug’s, where you can also get a dog made from rabbit, bison, ostrich, etc. (And the best fries anywhere-dropped in duck fat!)
    Places in the ‘burbs add foie to their menus, and folks went to a different bunch of places to eat.
    Soon enough the city council saw this for the waste of time it was and repealed it.
    So if you really hate foie-gras, go ahead and protest. Just don’t try to ban it-it won’t work.
    Also- I know geese and ducks. Not much brighter than your average plastic bag. I get to kill and eat animals because I can-I’m smarter and meaner than they are. Show me any apex predator who fails in this, and I’ll show you an extinct species.

  110. How can that be, the ban in Chicago had no effect? It was overturned?

    The frothing, angry vegans here claim unmitigated success in their war on our freedoms.

  111. Hey, instead of complaining, a smart vegan would go out and invent “faux gras” as a meat free substitute. I mean it would be bland and tasteless like all of the other faux meats out there but someone would surely fall for it and buy it instead of the real thing. Then score one for your team! Plus think of the money you’d make.

  112. Bethany, are you aware that Sonoma Foie Gras, which provides your precious Lark with foie gras, is actually one of the reaons for a statewide California ban on production and sale of force-fed foie gras by 2012?

    Investigations of foie gras production facilities provide a rare glimpse into this ugly world. In 1992 a police raid on a New York state foie gras producer resulted in cruelty charges. Necropsies taken of the dead birds revealed many painful conditions: The force-fed birds had chronic heart disorders, ruptured liver cell membranes, cirrhosis, traumatic esophagitis, and lesions in their gizzards and intestines. Dead birds were found with food filling their throats and spilling out of their nostrils.

    Eleven years later, in 2003, Farm Sanctuary, an animal advocacy organization, requested that the San Joaquin County California District Attorney investigate Sonoma Foie Gras for alleged violations of the state’s animal cruelty statute. Farm Sanctuary provided the attorney with evidence that showed filthy ducks, bloodied ducks, ducks unable to stand or walk, ducks having difficulty breathing, and dead ducks lying in cages among those still clinging to life. This evidence added to the pressure that finally led to the bill being passed.

    Here’s the bill: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2004/09…

    Even Schwarzenegger recognizes that foie gras production is inhumane. Why keep ignoring all the evidence out there just to stick to your guns?

  113. 10 things more punk rock than “bad-boy” chef Anthony Bourdain (Inspired by a post at the Post Punk Kitchen):

    1) six-toed kittens
    2) off-white paint
    3) horizontal blinds
    4) the American Heritage Dictionary
    5) plastic on the furniture
    6) The Lifetime Movie Network
    7) Blink-182
    8) Opti-Free lens cleaner
    9) Those paper bags with drawstring handles you get at department stores
    10) a 99′ Oldsmobile Alero

  114. It seems some of the guys cannot just disagree. Instead they go right for the sexist put-downs. I get the impression that they think women still defer to men. Some are probably under the illusion that their wife must obey them.
    “It WAS a man’s world”

  115. Hey all you meat eaters – the bitches loves vegan guys – as in they suck our cocks all the time because our cum tastes so sweet. The ho’s just can’t get enough of it. They can stand going down on meat eaters because the meat makes their cum taste like shit! So give up the meat. If you were a vegan you would see what I am saying.

  118. Oh arbeck — “I was a vegetarian, but people like NARN drove me away.” That’s good stuff. It’s so preternaturally moronic I want to kiss you.

    And Bethany, what can one say? If willful distortions, disinterest in facts, and anything resembling context are what today’s foie gras apologists need, you’ve been wildly successful.

  120. bethany jean clement may be committed to the highest standards of using humane techniques in sucking off goats

  122. Heather… your vitriol must taste so bitter in your “joie de vivre” compote. You’d do well to feel some love for your fellow commentators. This goes for the pissy Minger, too. Poor girls.

  123. Well, I’ve been meaning to visit Lark for several months now, but the twin promises of getting to watch wacko animal rights activists WHILE enjoying something I’ve been meaning to sample for several years now proved too tempting…We now have reservations for next Friday night…Bring on the Foie Gras baby!!! Yeah!!!!!!

  126. You can have my steak when you pry it from my cold dead hands.

    And before you cry “fattie!,” I lost 50lb last year and went from 275 to 175 total cholesterol by switching from a high-carb to a low-carb diet.

  127. mr sven you have no idea how steep this slippery slope is. they won’t stop at foi gras or or steak or even butter. they want your vegetables too. all food. and minerals and chemicals, your air, your water — everything. itsn’t it obvious?

  128. no! infant cannibalism is just the kind of wedge these food fascists need to worm their way into power

  130. AS LONG AS ANIMALS ARE OPRESSED SO WILL ALL MEMBERS OF THE FQTBLG COMMUNITY WE ARE ALL UNDER OBAMAS BUS AND WILL BE SILENT NO LONGER

    RADICAL FAIRYS DIKES OF SIZE UNITE DON’T PUT UP WITH THIS BIG DICK VIOLENCE FOIE GRAS TODAY TOMORROW OUR ANUSES!

  132. #34 says: “When did animals get the same rights (except in California where they have more rights than gays) as humans.”

    What? Wait a minute? Animals can get married in California now? And gays are raised for food? Wow – I didn’t hear about that.

    Jesus – seriously. That is just the height of stupidity to say that animals have more rights than people in California or anywhere for that matter. It is not legal to kill humans for food ANYWHERE. Ethics aside, it is perfectly legal to keep an animal in a small cage for it’s entire life before killing it and eating it.

  136. When the Next Big One hits, and Madison Markup and PCC’s are looted of their hummus and boca burgers, and the only protein sources left are Canada Goose and Brown Tailed Squirrel, we’ll see just how long the vegans last before they start BEGGING for some tasty roasted urban fowl & rodent.

  137. Once again I amazed at the reactionary obtuseness of folks in this allegedly liberal town. It seems they are all uber liberal until something calls into question their choice to do whatever they please about whatever they want. Even worse, their actual choices don’t even have to be threatened – all it takes for folks to go bananas is the conceptual possibility of that somehow their choice about anything may be challenged and off they go into howler monkey mode.

    Not even in the heart of Midwestern cattle country have I seen folks get so mean and crazy towards the idea of vegetarianism or veganism. Seattle takes the cake of crazy reactions to anyone who doesn’t eat totally carnivorous just like you. Red states are generally more enlightened about vegetarian/veganism philosophically than WA is, even if they have way fewer choices for vegetarians/vegans to eat out at.

    I’d guess ya’ll don’t understand how all these environmental and ‘green’ issues that ya’ll seem to identify yourselves with got started. They got started the same way everything that was outside the mainstream got started – with protests! Recycling didn’t just invent itself with city governments leaping over themselves to start recycling programs. No, they had to be bludgeoned and dragged kicking and screaming at first. Same thing for GLBT rights, and any civil rights – protests!

    Sure, after a while, once there’ve been some victories and a big enough stink has been made, then the mainstream starts to exhibit some grudging steps to adopt what should’ve been obvious from the start.

    So, same with foie gras. You don’t have to be vegan to understand making an animal suffer just so you have a tasty delicacy to munch on. There are a lot of tasty delicacies to pick from that don’t require animals to suffer.

  138. it is their goal mr sven. they want to ban all meat. therefore foi gras is not cruel. foi gras could be made by ripping live geese in half with jagged hooks but because narn wants to ban all meat that makes it okay! simple. foi gras is not cruel because narn wants to ban hamburgers. eat some foi gras today and it will be proven ten dimes as true!

  139. “I had no idea these neo-hippie types could even be aware of something as bourgeois as foie gras”

    Of course they know about it, they are all bourgeois and hate their parents for it. Look at them, 99% white, college educated and middle class. Could they be more irrelevant?

    Yawn….

  140. “Look at them, 99% white, college educated and middle class. Could they be more irrelevant?”

    Could this comment be more irrelevant? If the protesters were all poor, uneducated folks, you would mock them for being stupid.

  141. Blue Hour, a restaurant in Portland, Oregon that has taken foie gras off their menu over protests in 2008:

    “On Saturday August 9, a dozen activists made their way to the restaurant Blue Hour to protest foie gras being served at the establishment.

    It was a loud, lively, educational protest. Protesters chanted (“That’s not dinner, that’s diseased liver,” “Force fed, ’til they’re dead”), accompanied by fun party horns. Passersby stopped to watch a large screen television showing the horror that geese and ducks go through in the making of foie gras. People stopped for literature, wondering what the protest was all about. Many vowed to never eat foie gras. A couple visiting from France were thrilled to see the protest against foie gras, which they recognized as cruel – in fact, they were thrilled to see a protest of any kind happening in the states, wondering why US citizens don’t exercise their right to speech more often.

    While this is not a campaign against patrons of the restaurant, many of whom do not go there to order foie gras, several made their pro-foie gras and anti-protester opinions known. One woman going into the restaurant attempted to slap a female protester after being handed a flier, and quickly scurried away when other protesters immediately gathered around and let her know that was not acceptable. An older man bragged about how much money he has, how much he likes foie gras, and some crude things he’d like to do to protesters. It’s no wonder that the kind of person who supports such a cruel and violent product would express violence in their lives. But it’s all good – the more drama, the more passersby wonder what the fuss is about, and stop to get literature. And it’s never a boring evening for protesters! We stay positive and educational and let the ignorant and violent speak for themselves.

    Why do activists care so much for this issue that they are willing to sacrifice their time and vocal chords every weekend to protest? As we live our day to day lives in relative comfort, it’s easy for even those of us who know the process of producing foie gras to forget just how much intense suffering goes into this needless “delicacy.”

    An investigation at what is now Hudson Valley Foie Gras in New York showed workers force feeding 500 birds three times per day. One duck had a wound in his neck that was so severe that water came out of it when he drank (ducks are force fed using a metal pipe shoved down their throats which can wound and puncture it). Workers carried ducks around by their necks, causing them to “choke and defecate in distress.”

    A veterinarian who saw the farm noted that, “Many of the ducks…were lame or unable to walk without using their wings for support. Some ducks moved by pushing their bodies along the floor.” This veterinarian said, “All of the birds in the force-feeding area had dirty, ragged, incomplete plumage, yet none were attempting to preen. Only severely stressed or ill ducks allow their plumage to deteriorate to [such a] degree….Normal ducks keep their feathers in near-perfect condition.”

    Additionally, a state wildlife pathologist who examined ducks from the farm was greatly dismayed by the birds’ “greatly enlarged livers, the product of overfeeding by force (livers are easily torn by even minor trauma)” and one duck’s “laceration of the liver with hemorrhage into the body cavity.” He said, “This type of treatment and farming of waterfowl is outside the acceptable norms of agriculture and sane treatment of animals.”

    A link for your pleasure: http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2008/08…

  143. I REFUSE TO CUT AND PASTE OR GET UNDER OBAMAS BUS ALONG WITH OTHER FQTBLG COMMUNITY MEMBERS IF WHITE YUPPIES ARE SEXUALLY REPRESSED THAT THEY HAVE TO EAT ANIMAL FLESH THEN THAT IS THE WAY THEY ARE NO ORGASM NO JOY I CALL ON ALL MEMBERS OF THE RADICAL QUEER AND DYKE COMMUNITY TO REJECT LARK AND ALL OTHER GENTRIFYING FORCES THAT ARE COMMITTING GENOCIDE ON CAPITOL HILL

  144. I pasted it so you could read it. I’m sorry if that isn’t easy enough for you. I also gave you the option of clicking the link as well. Either way, obviously you’re not interested.

    Thanks anyway.

  145. @141:

    wow. newsflash. Portland oregon is a limpwristed and gutlessly overly-PC city! shocker!

    you cant compare portland with a real city. this incident has nothing to do with our issue here.

  147. OK – I just tasted some Foie Gras and I take it all back. Ignore all my post to now.

    I am fucking lovin’ it like a fat kid on a twinkie!

  148. Heather: I don’t really care about foie gras either way. I do, however, feel pretty confident in saying that this planet would be better off without you on it.

  149. @#148 Well bb I am on this planet and the length of time I spend here is totally outside of you influnce forever. So is your ability to control when,where or what I post. Your only choice here is to get used to it.

  150. p.s I am still amazed by how arrogant some NARN types can be. They seem to think that just because they raise the banner of animal rights that we must stand up a salute. Their views are just opinions and hold no special place in the universe.
    They continue to spred big lies like the one that says that there have never been any advances in medicine that result from animal testing. Yes there should be tight controls on testing, but the health and safety of my fellow human beings is far too important to be sacrificed at the altar of animal rights.

  152. p.s I am still amazed by how arrogant some troll types can be. They seem to think that just because they troll a comment thread that we must stand up a salute. Their views are just opinions and hold no special place in the universe.
    They continue to spred big lies like the one that says that no one can have a different opinion or speak their mind. Yes there should be tight controls on trolling, but the health and safety of my commenters is far too important to be sacrificed at the altar of trolls.

  154. Wow, Bethany, look at all the comments! I bet Dan and Keck give you a big ol’ bonus for driving up the hits, which justifies your advertising rates, which pays your paycheck. Kinda nice how that works, huh? Do you think Dan will appoint you Stupid Fucking Credulous Hack of the week to keep it going?

  155. Bethany your statement “I remain firm in my opinion … [that] Groups like NARN should focus on larger issues” really identifies you as a pompous arrogant asshole. I get you disagree with the NARN folks, which is probably why you aren’t a member. And splain away why you think they are wrong. But to presume to tell them that they should spend their protest time on your causes, rather than theirs, shows both what a lazy ass you are (do your own protesting rather than expecting others to do it for you) and the excessive opinion you have of yourself that you presume to tell others what should be important to them. And scuse me, but maybe they view direct action and engaging their immediate community in issues they can effect as more important than twiddling their thumbs as a protest that tyson and hormel execs would laugh at. And anyone who thinks these PETA style local protests haven’t effectively moved the national dialogue on animal rights issues isn’t paying attention. So give it to em like hell on why you disagree with them, but don’t be so pompous as to presume to tell them to protest your causes rather than theirs. It exposes you as an arrogant fool.

  158. Holy cripes! 157 and counting. I am wondering if there is a single animal rights activist who grew up on a farm. Any here? Any who’s experience with poultry extends beyond looking at ducks in the park?

  159. @158, yep, right here.

    I guess I’m not an “activist” per se, I mean I don’t protest outside restaurants, but I do donate to causes, volunteer here and there, and don’t eat meat or use animal-derived products. I grew up in farm country and also spent many a summer on my grandparents’ farm (dairy cows, pigs, chickens, geese, turkeys and bees (!)) We had a giant meat freezer stockpiled with beef, pork and chicken from the annual slaughter. As kids we weren’t allowed to watch, but we snuck a peek a few times. These were not factory farms by any means. They were small, family-run farms, and my recollection is that the animals had tons of room to roam, and were well-treated. The cows ate grass and hay (definitely not corn), and none of them were shot full of antibiotics or steroids. I don’t begrudge these family farms. They treat the animals well, sell their products locally, and run overall humane operations (of course there are exceptions to this, I’m just sharing my experience of spending my first 15 years on and around farms).

    Also, not all animals were raised to become food products. 4-H was a big deal, and people raised all kinds of animals as farm pets. The families I grew up with in the country had respect for their animals and treated them well.

    Personally, my main issue is with factory farming and cruel practices like foie gras production. While I don’t eat meat and haven’t for many years, I don’t get in anyone’s face about it. However, given the environmental factors tied to factory farming, and what I see as a ludicrous practice of force-feeding animals to feast on their organs, I think that consumers can make better choices about where and how they buy, use or consume animal products. There are other issues at stake here than just animal cruelty – environmental degradation, supporting local and family farms vs. industrial agriculture, and food safety are a few.

    I don’t think NARN is probably an effective group. I don’t really know much about them. There are probably better ways to achieve their aims. But at least they stand up for what they believe. I found Bethany’s post sort of flip – she dismisses NARN and uses some dubious “evidence” to back up her claims, without really looking at the issue. It would have been nice if she could have done a more balanced, thoughtful job of showing the various sides of this issue.

  160. Well I don’t think there are too many opponents of the animal rights activists here who are for torturing animals. Most probably agree that factory farms are malignant and taking reasonable steps to treat farm animals humanely is part of being civilized. I would have to say though that what I find to be ludicrous here is not the force-feeding of ducks but rather the idea that the force-feeding of ducks is an issue worthy of getting hysterical about. There seems to be a tendency to interpret animal experience in terms of human experience by certain people whos experience with animals does not extend far beyond childrens books and their cat. Really, wringing ones hands over whether the duck cares if it has a tube down its throat or whether it is emotionally scarred by this – a little nutty.

    Anyway this seems like more of a class warfare situation more than anything else. Foie Gras is seen as a luxury item. It is like the fur issue, also ludicrous if you ask me to be harranging and throwing ink at those wearing say rabbit skin while walking around in leather shoes.

  162. God I love Foie Gras and I am not rich or overly educated. I just freaking love it pan seared. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

  163. “Well I don’t think there are too many opponents of the animal rights activists here who are for torturing animals. “

    Do I need to list all of the commentators? It seems that the torturing of animals is a hobby for Bethany and her groupies.

  164. I just started reading the talkback and am amazed that David, NARN Board Member, DOES NOT KNOW, (or decided that it was more effective for his argument), that it is common practice to use a PLASTIC (NOT METAL) TUBE when force feeding a duck for Foie Gras since the late 80’s, early 90’s. This may seem trivial, but, since ducks don’t chew their food and swallow it whole, it is actually aids in increasing humane treatment of these animals.

  165. “If I offer a child the choice between a pear and a piece of meat, he’ll quickly choose the pear. That’s his atavistic instinct speaking.”
- Adolf Hitler. December 28, 1941. Section 81, HITLER’S TABLE TALK

    “The only thing of which I shall be incapable is to share the sheiks’ mutton with them. I’m a vegetarian, and they must spare me from their meat.”
- Adolf Hitler. January 12, 1942. Section 105, HITLER’S TABLE TALK

    38
    “One may regret living at a period when it’s impossible to form an idea of the shape the world of the future will assume. But there’s one thing I can predict to eaters of meat: the world of the future will be vegetarian.”

    Adolf Hitler
    1941

    “At the time when I ate meat, I used to sweat a lot. I used to drink four pots of beer and six bottles of water during a meeting. … When I became a vegetarian, a mouthful of water was enough.”
- Adolf Hitler. January 22, 1942. Section 117, HITLER’S TABLE TALK

    “When you offer a child the choice of a piece of meat, an apple, or a cake, it’s never the meat that he chooses. There’s an ancestral instinct there.”
- Adolf Hitler. January 22, 1942. Section 117, HITLER’S TABLE TALK

    “One has only to keep one’s eyes open to notice what an extraordinary antipathy young children have to meat.”
- Adolf Hitler. April 25, 1942. Section 198, HITLER’S TABLE TALK

    “When I later gave up eating meat, I immediately began to perspire much less, and within a fortnight to perspire hardly at all. My thirst, too, decreased considerably, and an occasional sip of water was all I required. Vegetarian diet, therefore, has some obvious advantages.”
- Adolf Hitler. July 8, 1942. Section 256, HITLER’S TABLE TALK

    “I am no admirer of the poacher, particularly as I am a vegetarian.”
- Adolf Hitler. August 20, 1942. Section 293, HITLER’S TABLE TALK

    “An extended chapter of our talk was devoted by the Führer to the vegetarian question. He believes more than ever that meat-eating is harmful to humanity. Of course he knows that during the war we cannot completely upset our food system. After the war, however, he intends to tackle this problem also. Maybe he is right. Certainly the arguments that he adduces in favor of his standpoint are very compelling.”

    Joseph Goebbels
    1942

  167. Hitler had vegetarian tendencies, whether he was a vegetarian or not depends on your definitions. It is also entirely irrelevent to this debate.

  168. people are dying of starvation everywhere in the world. i think there are better ways to focus the resources of this group. groups that force their issue on me or impact me in a negative way piss me off. 1st amendment is fine but seriously, better things to take issue with folks.

  169. In the grand scheme of things there is still other animals treated worstly by people using them as sport, especially when you consider there is ethical and unethical foie gras on sale, i totally get rid of the unethical foie gras but foie gras is built into culture culture, attacking it would only be attacking french culture.

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