Written by PETA
After seeing PETA's heart-wrenching undercover footage of ducks and geese suffering on foie gras farms, food service giant ARAMARK recently agreed to stop distributing foie gras.
To produce this "delicacy of despair," workers shove metal pipes down birds' throats and pump them full of fat and grain until their livers painfully swell to up to 10 times their normal size. Foie gras production is so cruel that California and many countries around the world have banned it.
This is a huge victory for ducks and geese. ARAMARK serves more than 2 billion meals every year in 22 countries—meals that will now be foie gras–free. To take further action, visit our Force Fed site and ask Royal Caribbean and Gelson’s Markets to stop selling foie gras.
Written by Michelle Sherrow
Joanna Lumley, the Absolutely Fabulous former Bond girl and current star of the Broadway play La Bête is still as fabulous as ever. What's her secret? Not being part of the "blood chain," as the longtime vegetarian puts it. She recently took a break from treading the boards to chat with PETA V.P. Dan Mathews and dish on fur, foie gras, and "the most horrid animals on the planet."
Dan Mathews: What made you sympathetic to animals?
Joanna Lumley: My mother early on taught us to respect all animals, and I mean all animals—not just cats and dogs but rats and snakes and spiders and fish and wildlife, so I really grew up believing they are just like us and just as deserving of consideration.
DM: How did you become a vegetarian?JL: Way back in the 1970s I was eating a steak, and I looked down and for the first time it suddenly looked like flesh to me—like a dead creature. In a flash, I realized that every time I ate any kind of meat, something had been killed for me, and I stopped eating all animals, not just cows and pigs but chickens and fish. I feel so much happier not being a part of the blood chain. It wasn't too difficult then, but of course it's so easy now. It's nice when you happen into a vegetarian restaurant, but really you can find veggie food everywhere. Pastas, salads, a vegetable plate—I actually like ordering vegetarian in a meaty place because it gives them a jolt to come up with something and recognize the demand.
DM: What do you have to say to stores like Fortnum & Mason that continue to sell foie gras?JL: I've had my run-ins with department stores, like Harrods, which stopped selling fur coats, but I found some there with fur trim, which is just as disgusting. Foie gras production is appalling—there's no excuse for selling it. But I would tell people who don't eat foie gras or veal but eat other meats that chickens and pigs, who are so intelligent, are living a life of hell and are just as deserving of their attention. Now, of course, the holidays are coming up, which means love is in the air and death is on the table. Poor turkeys.
DM: You played an infamous fashionista—Patsy Stone—on Ab Fab. Any comments to real-life fashion editors who push animal skins?JL: It's sad. I thought we had gotten over this, but when you see the designers and models and fashion editors still featuring fur so callously, you realize that humans are by far the most horrid animals on the planet. I can't bear people who are so thoughtfully unkind.
DM: What do you think of the campaign to replace The Queen's Guards' bearskin hats with fake fur?JL: I read about PETA's efforts with Stella McCartney and the Ministry of Defence while I was abroad, and I just said, "This is the way to go!" Cruel traditions are hard for some to shake, but I'm thrilled there is progress.
DM: Horse-drawn carriages are banned from the streets of London and Paris but still carry on in Manhattan. Any thoughts on this?JL: People have an old romantic notion about it. I would just say, "Please think again—think of the freezing and boiling weather they are forced to work in, and think of the cramped city stables where the horses are kept." I wish they would just allow the horses to remain in Central Park, but I understand that's hard to achieve with the city. I love the bill aimed at replacing the horse-drawn carriages with Great Gatsby–era cars. That is glamorous!
DM: The EU just postponed the deadline on the ban of cosmetics tested on animals from 2013 to who-knows-when. What do you think of that?JL: I'm so hotly opposed to cosmetics tests, as is everyone who has learned about it—that's outrageous. There's no need for this to go on, there never was. There are such sophisticated cell cultures and tissue cultures. I was very happy to learn that PETA has funded the validation process for replacement tests. The work PETA is doing is wonderful and always seems to have such spirit!
Written by Alisa Mullins
Contrary to the title of the first James Bond film he starred in, Roger Moore isn't willing to "live and let die." The former 007 is still battling bad guys, but instead of going after evil geniuses intent on destroying the world, he's leveling his icy blue stare at people intent on destroying ducks and geese. And just like all those Bond villains, they are no match for his debonair charm.
This week, the U.K. department store Harvey Nichols folded like a poker player at Casino Royale and agreed to Sir Roger's request that it stop selling foie gras, which is produced by force-feeding ducks and geese until their livers expand to up to 10 times their normal size. The decision comes almost a year to the day after Moore helped PETA U.K. persuade another U.K. institution, Selfridges, to stop selling the deadly delicacy.
Can anyone resist being shaken, not stirred by Sir Roger's entreaties? I'm beginning to doubt it. You can shake things up yourself by writing to two companies on this side of Her Majesty's former empire—Royal Caribbean and Gelson's Markets—and asking them to stop serving and selling foie gras. We don't want to have to sic James Bond on them.
PETA France tried nicely asking the president of the Trophée des Hauts de France ceremony in Lille, France, not to serve foie gras, but he insisted on displaying the vile "torture in a tin." That left PETA France no choice but to not-quite-so-nicely point out the cruelty involved in its production.
Earlier this year, PETA released a video narrated by Kate Winslet that contains undercover footage taken on French foie gras farms and shows ducks being confined to iron maiden–like cages, unable to stretch even one wing or take a single step in any direction. Such intense confinement is, of course, a violation of Council of Europe guidelines.
Here's how one investigator described the conditions on one farm:
"It is absolutely astounding to enter a force-feeding room. Hundreds of ducks are lined up like shoeboxes. They are … jammed in cages that restrict freedom of movement. They are unable to stretch even the tip of a wing or to turn around. … [D]ucks are haggard, and some of them haven't enough strength to raise their heads anymore. Metal cages, darkness, animals exhausted from struggling, corpses—you feel like you're entering a torture chamber."
PETA Germany has urged the European Commission to crack down on French foie gras farms that illegally confine birds to cages that restrict their movement. You can help by writing to the European Commission and asking it to enforce the 1999 guideline (Council Directive 98/58/EC):
John DalliCommissioner for Health and Consumer PolicyEuropean CommissionB-1049 Brussels Belgiumcab-dalli-webpage@ec.europa.eu
Speaking up for animals is a full-time, 24/7 job. Just ask Pamela Anderson.
As we told you earlier this month, when Montréal officials blocked the launch of Pamela Anderson's sexy new vegetarian ad campaign for PETA, she instead unveiled the ad during her previously planned news conference for the Just for Laughs festival.
Pam and PETA are grateful to Restaurant Globe for hosting the impromptu pro-veg event, but while she was there, Pam noticed that the restaurant serves foie gras. So when she wrote a thank-you note to Restaurant Globe, she added a plea, explaining the extreme cruelty that's involved in foie gras production and asking the restaurant to remove the "delicacy of despair" from its menu.
This is why Pam is an honorary PETA director—she never misses an opportunity to help animals. So if you ever notice foie gras on a restaurant menu, just think, "WWPD?" ("What Would Pam Do?") Then talk to the manager or owner, explain how foie gras is made by force-feeding geese sometimes to the point of causing their internal organs to rupture, and politely ask that the restaurant stop serving foie gras. Geese—and Pam—will be thankful!
Written by Jeff Mackey
Award-winning chef Amanda Cohen can add another notch to her (cruelty-free) lipstick case: Her not-so-sinfully delicious Mushroom Mousse has won the top prize of $10,000 in PETA's Fine Faux Foie Gras Challenge. Cohen, who is a veteran of New York City vegan hot spots TeaNY, Angelica Kitchen, Pure Food and Wine, and Blossom Café, wowed the judges with her deceptively simple combination of puréed vegan margarine, onions, soy milk, portobello mushrooms, and truffle oil. "I really wanted to make something decadent," says Amanda. "I thought it would be fun to recreate that [foie gras] in a vegan version that didn't lose any flavor and could stand on its own."
Yes, I think you could say that it stands on its own. And so do the second- and third-place vegan delicacies created by Eric Lechasseur from Seed in Venice, California, and Vincent Moellman from 50 Forks at the Art Institute of California in Santa Ana. I only wish I could say the same for the ducks and geese who are force-fed to make real (bad) foie gras, many of whom become so sick and debilitated that they can't even walk or stand.
If you can't get to Amanda's New York restaurant, Dirt Candy, to taste-test her mind-blowing Mushroom Mousse for yourself, you can find the recipe at PETA Living.
New Yorkers, if you've already tried Amanda's prize-winning concoction, please feel free to post your reviews below.
As the home of Western Europe's largest Muslim population, it's not surprising that France is experiencing a boom in halal food sales. But in their zeal to cater to the second-largest religious group in the world, food retailers are marketing so-called "halal" foie gras. Because Mohammed (PBUH) admonished his followers always to be kind to animals, good Muslims know that it is forbidden (haram) to deliberately harm an animal before taking that life. So how on Earth could it be remotely halal (approved) to produce foie gras, the "delicacy of despair," which requires ramming a metal pipe down birds' throats and pumping corn mush into their stomachs until their livers become diseased and enlarge to up to 10 times their normal size? I can't think of any way that force-feeding can be done so that it complies with Islamic law.
You can find out more about Islam and animals at IslamicConcern.com.
Written by Logan Scherer
Tamara Ecclestone, daughter of Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone, has the ideal formula for success: compassion, intelligence, and beauty. Tamara—who bared it all to reveal the naked truth behind foie gras for PETA U.K. last year—recently bought one of her father's favorite pubs. Her first order of business as restaurateur? Banning foie gras from the menu.
And the kindness doesn't stop there. Ecclestone has fired off letters to all Formula 1 team sponsors, urging them to ditch foie gras. Virgin Racing, Toro Rosso, Red Bull Racing, Allianz SE, and Michael Schumacher's team, Mercedes GP, all gave her assurance in record time that they wouldn't serve the cruel dish at their events. "I'm absolutely thrilled to be an ambassador for [PETA U.K.'s] campaign to stop the sale of foie gras – something I call 'torture in a tin' because of how ducks and geese are force-fed to produce it," says Tamara.
Smell that? It's the savory scent of our Fine Faux Foie Gras Challenge permeating the blogosphere. Check out our fabulous future L.A. neighbors' attempt to win top honors:
With the stakes insanely high—$10,000 to be exact—compassionate chefs everywhere are making their ingredient lists and checking them twice. (Hey, soon-to-be-fellow Angelinos: You still have time to tweak your recipe so that it contains no animal products!) The only force-feeding in this contest will be when our judges stuff their own faces with international chefs' sure-to-be-succulent recipes.
British socialite Tamara Ecclestone exudes high-class elegance—so it's no surprise that she despises cruel foie gras. Following PETA U.K.'s recent victory in getting Selfridges to stop selling the "delicacy of despair," Tamara—the gorgeous Sky Sports TV presenter and daughter of Formula One racing magnate Bernie Ecclestone—has taken it all off in the name of compassion.
To produce foie gras, workers force metal pipes down the throats of ducks and geese and pump up to 4 pounds of grain into their stomachs two or three times a day in order to cause their livers to become engorged. This overfeeding is excruciatingly painful and often causes the animals' organs to rupture. Foie gras production is so cruel that it has been banned in 16 countries, including the U.K., but inexplicably, retailers and restaurants in England are still allowed to sell it. To help end the suffering of these animals, follow Tamara's titillating lead and take our "No Foie Gras" pledge today.
If you have a general question for PETA and would like a response, please e-mail Info@peta.org. If you need to report cruelty to an animal, please click here. If you are reporting an animal in imminent danger and know where to find the animal and if the abuse is taking place right now, please call your local police department. If the police are unresponsive, please call PETA immediately at 757-622-7382 and press 2.
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