Lark—a small Capitol Hill restaurant known for serving
artisanal meats, costly cheeses, and locally sourced grains and
produce—has been targeted by the Northwest Animal Rights Network
(NARN), a vegan animal-rights organization, for including foie gras on
its menu. NARN’s shouting-and-pamphleting sidewalk protests against the
liver—which comes from geese or ducks fattened by
force-feeding—are in their fourth week. Lark executive chef/owner
John Sundstrom says he will not stop serving foie gras: “They say
they’re not giving up, and we’re not going to cave in to them.”
Jenn Kaplan, a board officer for NARN, told The Stranger that
while the group “would love to see Seattle become a vegan city, we
realize that that’s probably not going to happen anytime soon, and
we’re going to take pragmatic steps along the road to decrease cruelty
as much as possible.” Although Kaplan acknowledged that NARN’s decision
to target Lark for protests was somewhat “arbitrary,” she added, “Lark
purports to be an ethical restaurant, one that takes the issues of
sustainability and local [sourcing] very seriously.”
But while NARN protesters have been making a stink about Lark’s use
of foie gras—foie gras from a California company called Sonoma
Foie Gras that, according to its website, “utilizes humane techniques
in the raising and feeding of ducks”—they’ve missed a bigger
issue right under their noses.
Earlier this year, Sundstrom signed on as a celebrity spokesman for
the National Pork Board, a Des Moines, Iowa–based group whose
name is synonymous with factory farming and industrial pork production.
For his work as one of the Pork Board’s five “celebrated chefs,” which
will include several appearances and an agreement to serve at least two
pork dishes on his menu for a year, Sundstrom is receiving $1,000.
The Pork Board—perhaps best known for subjecting America to
its ubiquitous “The Other
White Meat” campaign—has
consistently opposed regulations on confined animal feeding operations
(CAFOs, aka factory farms), promoted massive agricultural corporations
like Hormel Foods and Smithfield Farms, and fought environmental and
safety regulations, including proposals to limit the amount of toxic
pollutants hog farms can emit.
Sundstrom, in contrast, is well known as a promoter of sustainable,
humane farming and ranching practices. Sundstrom disputes the notion
that taking money from the Pork Board means shilling for Big Pork. The
group, he told The Stranger, “represents anything from Big Pork,
which I would not really support… all the way to artisanal pork,”
like the Carlton Farms, Lilly Pig, and Mangalitsa products on previous
Lark menus.
The Ethicurean, a Seattle-based website focused on sustainable,
ethical, local food, declared themselves “shocked” to see Sundstrom’s
name on the list of National Pork Board emissaries—adding
sarcastically, “Hope [he] plan[s] to tell the rest of the country not
to buy factory pork, either.”
Sundstrom compares working with the Pork Board to his experience as
executive chef at Earth & Ocean, the restaurant of the downtown
branch of the W Hotel, a chain. Noting that the Pork Board has programs
that support heritage breeds, he says, “I’m really comfortable working
with them.”
While it’s true that the Pork Board does have a “niche” division
dedicated to promoting heritage pork—the website is www.nichepork.org—
the
group’s work on behalf of factory farms, which most small-farm
proponents believe displace and destroy smaller producers, belies their
“all pork is welcome” claim. (Small Washington State pork producer
Heath Putnam, who raises Mangalitsa “wooly pigs” near Spokane, says he
has never had any contact with the group.) And a Pork Board
spokeswoman—asked why the group chose Sundstrom as one of its
celebrity chefs—said only, “he was interested in pork” and “he
does a nice job with pork and has pork on the menu.”
The spokeswoman said the goal of the celebrity-chef program was to
“promote the product of pork. We don’t care where [that promotion is]
coming from. We want consumers to know what pork is, about how good it
is, and nutritious, and useful.” Meanwhile, the Pork Board’s website
features gushing testimonials from previous celebrity chefs, calling
pork “versatile so your family won’t get bored with the same old dish,”
“family-friendly,” and a meat that “can really stretch your budget.”
Pork raised with the aid of hormones under factory-farm conditions can
be had at bargain prices; heritage pork can cost upward of $30 a
pound.
A few current pork-
production statistics quickly show that Big
Pork is no small matter. Between 1980 and 2000, the number of hog farms
in Iowa, which produces a quarter of all United States pork, declined
from 64,000 to just 10,000, a trend that has continued. As the big
farms have gotten bigger, so has production—according to the
New York Times, large farms produced 2,000 percent more pork in
2002 than they did in 1997. That increase in productivity has,
predictably, come with a cost: increased air and water pollution from
pig-farm “lagoons”—lakes of shit so big you can see them from
space—and increased contamination of the pork itself. Last year,
more than 40 percent of grocery-store pork tested positive for a
bacterium known as C. diff., a potentially deadly bacterial
germ.
To change that system, of course, will require efforts from both
inside and outside the pork industry itself. To that extent, Sundstrom
is right: Small farms can benefit when they have the backing of
powerful agricultural interests. On the other hand, the vast majority
of the Pork Board’s work promotes an agricultural system that is
driving small producers out of business. That’s the kind of thing
animal-rights protesters should focus on—an agricultural system
that drives small farmers out of business, pollutes the environment,
and is truly cruel to animals. Foie gras is a convenient target—a
high-profile product with a controversial recent history. But the real
reform needed involves Big Pork and other grocery-store meat monoliths,
not seared Sonoma foie gras with caramelized pear and pain
d’epice on plates at Lark. 
It’s like you are supporting Lark and foie gras and tattling on his pork biz. Is this supposed to be investigative journalism or an extended slog comment to NARN members. Mixed message.
What the hell is with you guys telling protesters with a specific organization (Northwest Animal Rights Network) what they should and shouldn’t protest? Giant lakes of crap screwing up the environment isn’t their cause. Animal rights abuses in the northwest IS their cause. Whether you agree that foie gras production is cruel or not, NARN obviously does and they are protesting it accordingly, as is their right. Maybe next you should tell the Muscular Dystrophy Association that they should shut up already and go fight cancer since that’s so much worse? Who appointed you twerps the arbiters of what is and isn’t protestable?
Huh? So, is the point of this article to suggest that NARN should instead protest Lark because Sundstrom supports factory farmed pork? And factory farmed pork is a bigger issue than foie gras? I’m sure that Ms Barnett and Ms. Clement would be welcome at a NARN meeting to help formulate strategy to minimize the pain people inflict on other animals.
“would love to see Seattle become a vegan city”
Go fuck yourself.
I hope that it’s generally true that small “artisanal” farms or those who specifically provide niche or “heritage” pork subject their pigs to less outright abuse than the large producers do. It seems to be a sensible proposition, but is there any nonbiased source to back up that hope generally speaking?
Again, though, protesting foie gras is consistent with working to change the larger system of meat production in this country. Why can’t it be that NARN’s protests at Lark do not take away from other efforts, but instead actually supplement those efforts?
I understand why Lark is probably over these protests. Still not sure though why you guys at the Stranger are so irritated by some folks protesting an hour a week in front of a restaurant, and why you consider it such a wasted or counterproductive effort. Is it simply because some people, you know, actually care that much? Or is it because, in your heart of hearts, you know they might be right?
If these kids were running headlong into the buzzsaw of American agribusiness, The Stranger would be mocking them for the hopelessness of trying to upend the entire pork industry by waving a few signs. Telling them what the ought to be protesting is transparently disingenuous. All this rag does is hate — unless The Stranger thought of it first. Then you slobber all over yourselves inventing false praise for the imaginary success of your own projects.
It’s time for another infusion of new blood at this poor paper . After a few too many years at this, these writers tire of the novelty of sharing the cool things they’ve found with their readers and instead set themselves up as arbiters of all their readers are supposed to think and do.
nic @ 4: 59,
That’s what I’m talkin’ bout! Your internet comment “Go fuck yourself” directed toward those nutty animal rights people shows them who’s boss.
I for one appreciate your anonymous insults hurled at those wimps. Their moralistic and delusional interest in standing up for helpless animals who can’t speak for themselves has earned them all the scorn you and the Stranger can dish out.
I also believe that you should take that energy and go even further to stand up to protect and defend our meat-eaters’ rights and freedoms! Put that fightin’ spirit into action and go get a job at a pig slaughterhouse tood-sweet, mr. manly man!
Patrons of Lark, especially in this economic climate, are very loyal. Supposedly Lark had never sold as much fois gras as the first night of the protest. Nothing gets a fois gras enthusiast riled up more than vegan protesters. I agree with this article that the protesters should do their research on the chef, I was quite surprised about his connection to the pork board.
I think that protesting his connection to factory farming practices would have a much larger impact on decisions the chef and the behavior of the community.
This is Heath Putnam of Wooly Pigs.
I’ve sold John meat and like him a lot.
There’s a number of inaccuracies in this article – whether about Wooly Pigs (most of Wooly Pigs’ operations are now in IA) or pork production in general.
I recommend people read this book if they want to understand pork production better: http://www.amazon.com/Hog-Ties-What-Abou…
If you read that, it won’t be so clear who the good guys or bad guys are – but you’ll have a better understanding of a very complicated system.
I’m not qualified to speak about foie gras and whether or not it is inherently cruel. Pigs are fundamentally different: http://woolypigs.blogspot.com/2008/11/ap…
I’m sorry I won’t be able to make this week’s protest at Lark, but glad that NARN will be there as usual. It’s been great associating with them and participating in the last four protests at Lark.
Keep on calling NARN and protesters misguided and wasting their time is so condescending and getting really repetitive. Citing supposedly factual references of “humane foie gras” as if there is such a thing, using a foie gras producer’s own website on the other hand, just shows that you’re only interested in turning a blind biased eye as usual.
As it’s been stated before on all these Slog threads, don’t tell us what or how to protest.
Thanks Stranger “writers” for shining a light on this hypocrite chef though.
Seems to me that all of these so-called humane practices (like foie gras) would cease to exist if it were not for the profits they make……..and Sundstrom seems to be taking advantage of misusing animals when he can make a profit from them and trying to jump on the sustainable bandwagon as well…..his heart follows the greed current only so don’t be fooled by his “purports to be an ethical restaurant” bs.
I’ve never been to Lark, heard mixed reviews, but thanks to this article I’ll be going once a week, at least until this protest ends. I’ll be ordering foie gras. And pork.
As a chef, I think people should be able to eat/cook foie gras if they want. If you don’t like it, then don’t eat it! As less demand for it occurs, supply will dwindle! If you know the story with the last horse butchery in the US, then this is another case of animal right’s activists going too far.
I think when people force their values on others, wether it be ideas about food, politics or religion, it’s distasteful and wrong.
Everybody is in charge of themselves.
Ha ha ha….an article on MSNBC today:
“Mauritania struggles with love of fat women; Government trying to change desert culture that force-feeds girls..”
“In Mauritania, to make a girl big and plump, ‘gavage’ — a borrowed French word from the practice of fattening of geese for foie gras — starts early…Mint was 4 when her family began to force her to drink 14 gallons of camel’s milk a day. When she vomited, she was beaten.”
Dude, it’s WRONG to forcefeed ANYTHING or ANYONE.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18141550/
“If she refused to drink, her fingers were bent back until they touched her hand. Her stomach hurt so much she prayed all the animals in the world would die so that there would be no more milk.
By the time Mint was 10, she could no longer run. Unconcerned, her proud mother delighted in measuring the loops of fat hanging under her daughter’s arms.
“My mother thinks she made me beautiful. But she made me sick,” says Mint, who suffers from weight-related illnesses including diabetes and heart disease. “
If you don’t like child pornography, then don’t look at it!
I think when people force their values on others, whether it be ideas about food, politics or child abuse, it’s distasteful and wrong.
Actually, I had the best foie gras ever in Vancouver last weekend. I don’t care if they force feed ducks gypsy hearts and unicorn testicles, light the place with jew-skin lamps, force natives from their lands, and harness the power of 200 years of slavery, that shit is good. Check it out, Le Crocodile Restaurant in Vancouver, real French food, so much better than Seattle. It’s good to be king!
A vegan talking about farming is a bit like a castrati criticizing a whore-house.
lame-ass strangler food writers
what a piece of shit journalism as usual
you couldn’t get a job writing anywhere else but this pathetic college newspaper
read denn, schneider, kauffman, leson, dutton, you freshmen.
Stupid article! The National Pork Board doesn’t “opposed regulations on confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs, aka factory farms), promoted massive agricultural corporations like Hormel Foods and Smithfield Farms, and fought environmental and safety regulations, including proposals to limit the amount of toxic pollutants hog farms can emit. The Pork Board is prohibited by law from lobbying. If the authors were competent journalists, they would check their facts.
Two wars, an economy in tatters, millions incarcerated for petty possession, and you’re worried about geese. Yeah, you do need to go fuck yourselves. There are bigger fish to fry and you’re wasting your time on cute and cuddly INSECTS.
“Humane” foie gras? Can’t be done. Further, there’s no such thing as humane meat,(incl. the flesh of the duck when it’s all foie gras’ed out)or dairy, eggs. There’s not even any such thing as humane euthanasia for dogs and cats at shelters. Taking a life is brutal from the beginning to the end.
Being force fed through a tube? Thousands of frat dudes want to know what the big deal is.
beer-bonged
oh my god! the two worst stranger writers teaming up to continue the ridiculous foie gras porn. we know where you stand, ladies. now fuck off.
Oh my fucking god. Shut the fucking fuck up already.
I’m a PeTA member. “People Eating Tasty Animals”. Go stick your veggies where the sun don’t shine.
“Two wars, an economy in tatters, millions incarcerated for petty possession, and you’re worried about geese. Yeah, you do need to go fuck yourselves. There are bigger fish to fry and you’re wasting your time on cute and cuddly INSECTS.”
First off, you apparently need to go back to biology class, SausageFingers. It’s *fowl* not insects. If you’re going to knock them down a few notches, then it should be applied across the board. In that case “neanderthal” would be quite charitable for you.
And what makes you think the folks of NARN aren’t involved in the “bigger issues?” Have you asked them? Animal rights people are often involved in human social justice campaigns, because our compassion has no boundaries as to species.
And why don’t we direct the question at *you*? What exactly are *you* doing besides criticizing people that care about anything? If you haven’t bothered to poke your head out of your own self-absorbed life and actually take a stand against something, then you have no right to criticize us. “Go fuck yourself” indeed.
nic @ 4 – you took the words right out of my mouth!
we care about this and much more,
As usual, I’ll dumb down my dialog when dealing with fundies. The “insects” reference was facetious*. I am well aware that geese are not insects, but thanks for the info.
As for whatever else NARN spends it’s time on, no, I didn’t go ask them. My time is more important. The article is about geese, and that’s where my comments are directed.
As for what I’M doing…
http://www.ivaw.org/
So blow me.
* 1 : joking or jesting often inappropriately : waggish
2 : meant to be humorous or funny : not serious
I’ve never tried foie gras before (not a fan of any kind of liver), but after reading this article, I fully intend to head out to Lark and order some. If for no other reason than to say F*CK YOU to the folks at NARN.
I have worked in animal protection for three years and have actually seen that the most egregious forms of cruelty are often found on the smaller, less regulated operations.
Farmers treat animals the way they do because it’s profitable. Small farmers have a much harder time staying profitable against the giant CAFO’s so they are forced to cut even more corners, which almost always comes at the expense of the animals.
I’ve seen pregnant animals full of worms with open sores on their body which the farmer fully intended to send to slaughter. I’ve seen animals endure broken limbs which have gone weeks without veterinary attention. The examples are endless.
I’m not saying that factory farmed meat is somehow more humane or well regulated at all. My point is that there is no alternative in this industry which is “humane” or “animal friendly”
The problem is the principle of commodification on which the animal industry is founded.
Big Agriculture was allowed to stand in the new farm bill. The animal rights groups think it’s there duty to bring it down. I wouldn’t think that a pig would think that eating all day could be called animal abuse. BUT WHAT DO I KNOW. IT’S CLEAR THAT THE ANIMAL RIGHTS PEOPLE HAVE COMMUNICATION GOING WITH THE PIG. MORE POWER TO THEM. What all of you don’t know is that the National Socialist Party has got there hands all over the animal rights movement as there grandfathers started the movement. Go ahead google them, if I tell you who they are you wont believe me.
I think the larger point here is that whether or not NARN thinks foie gras wrong, they have no right to ruin people’s dinner! And if these misguided individuals feel that they will change a practice dating back to Egypt circa 2500 B.C. (when they first started keeping animals for food and fattening them to increase yield) by standing in front of one of several hundred restaurants that serve foie gras in Seattle than they are just as stupid as this poorly written and pointless article.
Good Riddance! Fattened Liver for all!! YUMMY!
When you write that “But the real reform needed involves Big Pork and other grocery-store meat monoliths”, yes, that is true. But it’s not an either/or proposition. Both issues can be addressed. What you’re basically saying is that animal-rights activists need to focus only on big-industry farming, but knowing that’s not going to change any time soon, they shouldn’t bother with other issues? And if you had read through the flame war that ensued on Slog, you would find numerous comments by NARN members stating that they *are* working on other issues, with specific examples. Why you are still holding on to this thing of “they need to focus on bigger issues” is beyond me.
Regarding your use of Sonoma Foie Gras’ website as evidence that they humanely produce their product, I would draw your attention to the following press release issued by the Peanut Corporation of America *after* hundreds were already sickened by salmonella-tainted peanut products:
“PCA uses only two highly reputable labs for product testing and they are widely used by the industry and employ good laboratory practices. PCA categorically denies any allegations that the Company sought favorable results from any lab in order to ship its products.”
Do you really think it’s good journalism to take an industry or business at face value? The fact that you still refuse to take into account any evidence to the contrary regarding foie gras production is disheartening.
Isn’t it strange how the people cheering for foie gras on here (whether out of the need to be childishly contrarian or out of actual support) sound disturbingly similar to those espousing conservatism?
There’s a reason for that.
Sausage Fingers,
Undoubtedly your time is very important. It is certainly important to be an anonymous jackass on the internet. Keep up the fight, brother meathead.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=12…
For all you people out there who give a damn about anything. It comes down to one thing…Respect. Don’t you think we as a human race need to start taking responsibility for our actions? We need to start respecting this world we live in, in all possible ways. We need to take better care of each other, better care of this earth and all the species on this earth. Haven’t we done enough damage? For #!@* sake! Stop being so God Damn selfish!
Should I find it amazing that there is so much vitriol directed against those people attempting to lessen the pain in the world?
sausage fingers kicks your sorry vegan ass,
Guilty as charged, douche.
it is pretty hard to tell the difference between a typical wingnut defending bush’s torture policies and a typical wingnut defending animal cruelty. these people are ruled by their own fear and insecurity. they’ll literally endorse anything that might serve their own comfort and safety.
the saddest part is the macho posturing on the internet from people who lay awake nights afraid of every shadow and sound. real tough, aren’t they?
Pale, mopey vegans want to shove their philosophy down my throat until my liver swells up.
Why aren’t they moping back and forth on the sidewalks in front of every KFC in town if their lives are centered on the war against poultry abuse?
What happens to chickens on their way to the Colonel is way, way more disgusting than anything that happens at Sonoma Foie Gras. Or haven’t they seen the videos?
If I have to plow my way through a bunch of wrong-headed vegans, (and I will be checking for leather belts) on my way to dinner i am going to be PISSED. So watch out, you pasty, mopey idiots! I will be able to easily shove you out of my way, because my diet makes me stronger than you!
once again, way to hack up a story
Why, I wonder, isn’t NARN slogging back and forth on the sidewalks in front of every KFC in town? I mean, if you want to be on the front lines in the war against poultry abuse, why not target the guys whose chicken ranchers hold birds by the feet and slam them against wall? I have seen the videos.
Maybe the real reason NARN singles out Lark is that in order to eat there you have to have a job.
If I am going out to dinner and I have to plow my way through a bunch of pale, mopey vegans who want to shove their philosophy down my throat until my liver swells up, I am going to be PISSED!
NARN have opened my eyes. I am going to stop eating baby geese and start smashing them with sledgehammers instead. Thanks, vegans. You make boiled dirt look tastier every day.
I will be checking the dental records. Anyone at NARN with his/her incisors and canines are nothing but hypocrites.
Good thinking Jess! And by your logic, anyone with a penis should have the “right” – by god, the duty – to rape women. I mean – he has the equipment – he should use it. Women have been getting raped since the ancient times after all. Tradition makes everything a-ok.
Gorillas have sharp incisors, Jess. You should find a gorilla and try to make it give being vegetarian.
NARN peeps, why don’t you REALLY win this one by creating the MOST humane foie gras farm IN THE WORLD! Totally organic/sustainable/green/etc., you’d OWN the high end market AND all the PC minded folks. Eventually, you’d have a world monopoly on ALL meat products, and could 100% guarantee they were made as humanely _as possible_. Plus, with all the $$$, you could start a media campaign, better than PeTA’s (now, THEY are some animal-killing hipocrites http://www.petakillsanimals.com/) convincing people like me that eating plant matter is not the equivalent of raping and pillaging the plant world.
really, in the end, this article was weak, and you self righteous f*cks on both sides suck. a few good points, but mostly play-ground style “no, i’m right”
and, apparently, i ain’t got nothing important to do, as evidenced by me joining in this whine fest…WOOPEEE!!!
“Humane” foie gras? Can’t be done. Further, there’s no such thing as humane meat,(incl. the flesh of the duck when it’s all foie gras’ed out)or dairy, eggs. There’s not even any such thing as humane euthanasia for dogs and cats at shelters. Taking a life is brutal from the beginning to the end.”
Uh, would you mind coming down here where the real outdoors is and telling this to the cougar that mistook my neighbour’s horse for a vegetable?
I’m a vegetarian myself. Other people eat meat. Yay for diversity! Boo for animal cruelty. But, there are predators, so there must be prey. Myself, I caaaarrreeeefully sneak up on carrots and then POUNCE! They’re MINE! ALL MINE! Does fois gras HAVE to be made from FATTENED livers? Can’t they be made with plain livers that are a by-product of the poultry industry? ADD fat if you need it. Add goose fat, duck fat, chicken fat, Rosanne Barr fat, I don’t care.
Granted, force feeding is wrong, too. Trust me…abusive babysitter…2 year old me…milk and vegetable soup I didn’t want. Not pretty when puked back up, or spewing as said babysitter beats you for puking on the floor.