WEBVTT - Short Stuff: Foie Gras 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:06.800 Hey, and welcome to the short stuff. I'm Josh, and 0:00:06.840 --> 0:00:10.920 there's Chuck and Jerry's wandering around the halls somewhere stuff 0:00:10.960 --> 0:00:15.320 to the gill like a fattened goose with mis gross. 0:00:15.400 --> 0:00:19.919 Oh yeah, sorry, like she she eats balls of me 0:00:20.079 --> 0:00:23.720 so doesn't even choose them, just swallows them like a duck, 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:27.159 and they get stored in her liver and eventually we 0:00:27.240 --> 0:00:29.160 will kill Jerry and eat that liver and it's going 0:00:29.200 --> 0:00:33.479 to be delicious. I'm surprised that a Miso uh manufacturer 0:00:33.680 --> 0:00:36.239 and distributor hasn't I guess you don't manufacture it, but 0:00:37.320 --> 0:00:43.920 packager has not tried to custom brand a Miso Jerry brand. 0:00:44.479 --> 0:00:48.080 M it's a it's a I think maybe we should 0:00:48.080 --> 0:00:50.879 do that. Maybe not my best idea. It's not a 0:00:50.960 --> 0:00:53.080 bad idea, though, you know what I'm saying, Like, it's 0:00:53.120 --> 0:00:55.240 not one that just makes you go like, let's just 0:00:55.320 --> 0:00:57.840 keep talking and pretend you didn't say that. I appreciate that. 0:00:58.080 --> 0:00:59.680 Like there's a few bucks in it for us, I 0:00:59.680 --> 0:01:03.080 think on the road, right, Okay, So we're talking about 0:01:03.080 --> 0:01:07.360 fattened liver because if you um translate the word fatty 0:01:07.400 --> 0:01:10.640 liver into the franche, it comes out to be fois gras. 0:01:11.120 --> 0:01:12.840 But you may have heard of before, you may have 0:01:12.920 --> 0:01:19.520 even eaten before, you may detest. But it's like one 0:01:19.560 --> 0:01:24.080 of the most um controversial foods ever. And I mean like, seriously, 0:01:24.120 --> 0:01:26.480 you could have never even seen this stuff and have 0:01:26.600 --> 0:01:28.800 just heard those words, and you probably are aware that 0:01:28.840 --> 0:01:32.080 it is an extremely controversial food. Yeah, and this is 0:01:32.120 --> 0:01:37.080 something I've never tried in Ah, certainly because of the practice. 0:01:37.120 --> 0:01:39.679 But even before I knew how it happened, I just 0:01:39.720 --> 0:01:44.479 don't eat organ meats, and fattened goose liver just would 0:01:44.480 --> 0:01:47.040 not appeal to me anyway. I don't like Pett's and 0:01:47.080 --> 0:01:49.640 stuff like that, so it never would have been on 0:01:49.720 --> 0:01:53.680 my culinary radar anyway. I have to admit that on 0:01:53.800 --> 0:01:59.200 a visit to Italy, I ate any kind of organ 0:01:59.240 --> 0:02:04.880 meat literally morning, noon and night for days on end, 0:02:05.040 --> 0:02:08.880 and it was just a dream. The thing is is, 0:02:08.919 --> 0:02:12.079 there's a lot of people out there say, hey, fat boy, 0:02:12.120 --> 0:02:14.720 why don't you quit eating that stuff, because there's a 0:02:14.720 --> 0:02:17.799 lot of animals that suffered to make that and they 0:02:17.800 --> 0:02:19.600 have a really good case, so much so that there 0:02:19.639 --> 0:02:24.320 have been bands specifically on fla gras. In fact, in 0:02:25.240 --> 0:02:28.520 New York in two thousand nineteen, they passed a band 0:02:28.800 --> 0:02:35.360 bill that prohibits get this storing, maintaining, selling, or offering 0:02:35.440 --> 0:02:40.480 to sell force fed products or food containing force fed products, 0:02:40.560 --> 0:02:44.400 which is basically targeting flall gra because fall grass a 0:02:44.440 --> 0:02:50.720 force fed product, hence the controversy associated with it. That's right, India, Australia, California, 0:02:50.760 --> 0:02:54.519 other places that have banned uh fla graw from being 0:02:55.240 --> 0:02:58.760 I guess at least sold and served in restaurants. And 0:02:58.800 --> 0:03:01.040 the practice you're talking about, this force feeding is it? 0:03:01.080 --> 0:03:03.919 Is it called gavage? I believe so. Yeah, that's that's 0:03:03.919 --> 0:03:06.720 how I would say g A V A g E. 0:03:07.560 --> 0:03:11.360 And this goes way way back to Um Jesus, at 0:03:11.440 --> 0:03:15.160 least Egypt when they were forced feeding these geese when 0:03:15.200 --> 0:03:20.720 they saw that quote developed, uh, the waterfowl developed large 0:03:20.760 --> 0:03:24.520 fatty livers after eating large amounts in preparation for migration. 0:03:25.560 --> 0:03:29.240 And then this goes to the Mediterranean and then into France, 0:03:29.240 --> 0:03:32.160 where a lot of our culinary traditions were born. And 0:03:32.160 --> 0:03:35.840 there was a chef there named Jean Joseph Klaus or 0:03:35.920 --> 0:03:40.800 Klaussa that'll probably German Klaus, and he is credited with 0:03:40.920 --> 0:03:44.280 creating the first fua gra in seventeen seventy nine and 0:03:44.360 --> 0:03:48.560 patenting it in Yeah, and he got twenty pistols from 0:03:48.800 --> 0:03:52.040 King Louis the sixteenth saying thanks a lot, pal for 0:03:52.160 --> 0:03:54.880 creating fois gras. I love it. I slather it on 0:03:54.920 --> 0:03:59.440 my naked body every night. Go shoot some geese. So um. Yeah, 0:03:59.520 --> 0:04:03.080 they're like this. This is based on this idea that 0:04:03.720 --> 0:04:08.040 that ducks and geese naturally fatten up storing fat on 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:10.320 the liver they stored on their under their skin too, 0:04:10.400 --> 0:04:12.640 like we do. We also store fat on our liver, 0:04:12.720 --> 0:04:17.000 but geese and and ducks are just evolutionary aces that 0:04:17.160 --> 0:04:19.640 storing fat in their liver. And it just so happens 0:04:19.640 --> 0:04:23.160 that somebody said, I wonder what that tastes like they 0:04:23.200 --> 0:04:26.479 tried it, and we're like, this is astounding. And most 0:04:26.480 --> 0:04:29.320 of the time when you have pette, it's um or 0:04:29.440 --> 0:04:33.159 full graw. It isn't a patte form, which is to say, 0:04:33.279 --> 0:04:38.000 it looks a lot like cat food inconsistency, very similar color, 0:04:38.160 --> 0:04:41.440 maybe even a similar smell. It's the taste that really 0:04:41.480 --> 0:04:43.960 differentiates it. Not just the taste but also the price. 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:46.320 They can get up to like eighty bucks a pound, 0:04:46.440 --> 0:04:49.080 usually forty to eighty dollars a pound for full graw, 0:04:49.320 --> 0:04:51.839 which is a lot of money for a pound of 0:04:51.880 --> 0:04:54.279 any kind of food. But one of the reasons why 0:04:54.400 --> 0:04:58.480 is the production is so food is so labor intensive, right, 0:04:59.279 --> 0:05:01.320 and then also the stuff that goes in along with it, 0:05:02.080 --> 0:05:07.320 like very fine brandies, truffles. Um, it's a it's about 0:05:07.320 --> 0:05:10.279 as decade in a food as as you can find. Yeah, 0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:14.880 just really reeks of uh well, I guess it reeks 0:05:14.920 --> 0:05:19.359 of of Henry the Eighth or King Louis, the people 0:05:19.440 --> 0:05:21.440 like that who got gouted when they were in their 0:05:21.520 --> 0:05:25.640 twenties and just surrounded themselves with fats and meats and 0:05:25.760 --> 0:05:29.120 liver organ meats and things like that. I'm sure I'm 0:05:29.120 --> 0:05:36.440 making you hungry. I'm about to vomit. But if you're 0:05:36.480 --> 0:05:38.839 on the other side of the coin and you are 0:05:38.839 --> 0:05:42.680 into animal rights and stuff like that, you might say, hey, um, 0:05:42.760 --> 0:05:47.960 ducks hyperventilate sometimes, sometimes they bleed, sometimes they are shackled 0:05:48.400 --> 0:05:51.520 when you were forced feeding them. Uh. They rallied for 0:05:51.560 --> 0:05:54.679 that bill, the seventy eight bill that you were talking about, 0:05:55.560 --> 0:05:58.359 And you can be fined anywhere from five hundred to 0:05:58.400 --> 0:06:02.479 two thousand dollars starting in New York City. Yeah, when 0:06:02.480 --> 0:06:04.560 it takes effect, I guess all of New York or 0:06:04.600 --> 0:06:07.200 maybe just New York City. So you would think, like, 0:06:08.240 --> 0:06:12.000 you know, what's controversial about this, It's just rotten, it's wrong, 0:06:12.160 --> 0:06:15.520 it's mean, um all to produce like one of the 0:06:15.520 --> 0:06:21.280 most decadent foods around. Like, there's really nothing ConTroll controversial 0:06:21.320 --> 0:06:24.920 about that. It's it sounds pretty one sided, and a 0:06:24.920 --> 0:06:27.400 lot of people feel that way. There is, however, another 0:06:27.520 --> 0:06:31.480 side that argue against it, and we will visit them 0:06:31.560 --> 0:06:53.320 right after this, all right. So there's a lot of 0:06:53.320 --> 0:06:55.640 people out there, chuck that say, well, we hear what 0:06:55.680 --> 0:06:58.440 you're saying, but you're all dumb and you're wrong, and 0:06:58.440 --> 0:07:01.560 they actually say it like that. A lot um A 0:07:01.560 --> 0:07:06.480 lot of like chefs, especially celebrity chefs, have actually taken 0:07:06.480 --> 0:07:09.640 a stand in favor of FOA Graw, saying that it's 0:07:09.720 --> 0:07:12.880 unfairly targeted. Um. One of the reasons I saw. I 0:07:12.880 --> 0:07:15.600 read a couple of posts on Serious Eats in defense 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:18.680 of it, and they said, you know, this is a 0:07:19.720 --> 0:07:23.240 um a type of food that's associated with the very rich. Uh. 0:07:23.320 --> 0:07:25.360 It's really easy to get people riled up because you 0:07:25.360 --> 0:07:28.720 hear things like force feeding and jamming tubes down animals 0:07:28.760 --> 0:07:32.400 necks and making their liver ten times their normal size. 0:07:32.880 --> 0:07:35.840 You put all that together, and you know, fo graw 0:07:35.960 --> 0:07:39.400 becomes unfairly targeted and it's kind of hard to swallow 0:07:39.440 --> 0:07:43.080 at first. I'm very sorry about that one. The idea 0:07:43.120 --> 0:07:46.560 that anybody would defend force feeding an animal to fatten 0:07:46.600 --> 0:07:49.440 its liver to ten times its size so that um 0:07:49.720 --> 0:07:53.640 gout ridden old ritchies can eat a little bit of 0:07:53.640 --> 0:08:00.040 this stuff. Um. But if something is unfairly demonized, it 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:02.360 is worth looking into an unpacking. And they do make 0:08:02.400 --> 0:08:05.080 a couple of good points here there. Yeah. There's a 0:08:05.080 --> 0:08:09.120 group called the Catskill fwag Rock Collective, worst band name ever, 0:08:09.920 --> 0:08:12.280 and they produced most of the flag raw that you 0:08:12.320 --> 0:08:14.480 would get in New York City. You could still get 0:08:14.560 --> 0:08:17.400 I guess once restaurants are open for the next couple 0:08:17.400 --> 0:08:19.760 of years. Yeah. And they they have challenged the band 0:08:19.840 --> 0:08:23.640 and they say it's unconstitutional. Um, you don't have jurisdiction 0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:27.440 over what we do to blastio and these are our 0:08:27.480 --> 0:08:30.920 businesses and you can't shut us down. Um. And the 0:08:31.120 --> 0:08:33.720 I guess the leader of the president, Marcus Henley of 0:08:33.760 --> 0:08:38.160 the Catskill Flag Rock Collective says, you know what, this 0:08:38.160 --> 0:08:42.160 this little tube is really not causing any discomfort. Ducks. 0:08:42.240 --> 0:08:45.040 Ducks aren't like us. They're built different this uh than 0:08:45.080 --> 0:08:48.280 than us, and this tube is they they love this thing, 0:08:48.520 --> 0:08:51.960 trust me basically. Um. In that serious Seats article, they 0:08:52.000 --> 0:08:54.360 went to like the greatest flag graw farm on the 0:08:54.400 --> 0:08:57.199 planet and the ducks like came over to get their 0:08:57.240 --> 0:09:02.920 garvage um feeding. But the that's definitely not par for 0:09:03.000 --> 0:09:05.079 the course. There's a lot of videos out there of 0:09:05.200 --> 0:09:08.720 some really abusive duck and geese farms where they're stuck 0:09:08.760 --> 0:09:11.079 in cages and their beaks are broken and they're bleeding 0:09:11.120 --> 0:09:14.000 out of their noses and they're lost feathers and they 0:09:14.000 --> 0:09:16.760 have like vomit around their mouth and they're still being 0:09:16.840 --> 0:09:20.440 force fed. Um. There's some really awful operations out there. 0:09:20.800 --> 0:09:24.480 But um, the apparently, if you're getting good fall raw, 0:09:24.559 --> 0:09:27.160 you're getting it from somebody who's treating their animals very well. 0:09:27.559 --> 0:09:30.560 And the case they're making about ducks and geese being 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:34.160 built differently than us is that their esophagus, their esopha 0:09:34.200 --> 0:09:37.280 guy I guess, are not connected to their trach yet 0:09:37.360 --> 0:09:41.200 they're two separate ones rather than shared like in in humans, 0:09:41.559 --> 0:09:44.600 and their esophagus is allowed to stretch like they can 0:09:44.600 --> 0:09:47.120 eat fish that are many times over the size of 0:09:47.559 --> 0:09:50.640 their actual esopha guy, so they can stretch pretty easily. 0:09:50.679 --> 0:09:52.400 So that's where they say it doesn't really give them 0:09:52.440 --> 0:09:56.800 much discomfort if any um and that their their liver 0:09:56.960 --> 0:10:00.920 fattening to like huge like sy is that it's actually 0:10:01.040 --> 0:10:03.800 kind of built to do that. This is just human 0:10:03.880 --> 0:10:06.120 speeding up this process or kind of making it in 0:10:06.200 --> 0:10:09.559 like a simulated way like the ducks. The ducks and 0:10:09.559 --> 0:10:11.959 the geese aren't doing this to migrate, but they are 0:10:12.040 --> 0:10:16.280 responding naturally to this kind of simulated packing on the weight, 0:10:16.720 --> 0:10:18.800 and that if you kind of start to understand it, 0:10:19.120 --> 0:10:21.680 you will probably change your mind about fall graw. I 0:10:21.679 --> 0:10:25.240 don't know if that's a foregone conclusion, but from what 0:10:25.320 --> 0:10:28.600 I read, it isn't as quite as as bad as 0:10:28.640 --> 0:10:32.240 I presumed. The one that got me, though, Chuck, is 0:10:32.280 --> 0:10:35.800 that if you they say, if you are fine with 0:10:35.840 --> 0:10:38.200 eating eggs, you don't really think about where your chicken 0:10:38.240 --> 0:10:41.160 eggs are coming from, You've got no leg to stand 0:10:41.160 --> 0:10:44.520 on going after fla graw because the chickens that are 0:10:44.559 --> 0:10:47.520 producing those eggs that you're eating are being treated just 0:10:47.600 --> 0:10:50.200 as bad, if not worse than the worst cases of 0:10:50.240 --> 0:10:52.560 the ducks and the geese that are being fattened up 0:10:52.559 --> 0:10:55.440 for patte. That is the one point that I find 0:10:55.480 --> 0:10:59.520 difficult to challenge. Well, yeah, I mean, you know, very 0:10:59.559 --> 0:11:02.560 famously worked in the chicken farming industry, unfortunately as a 0:11:02.600 --> 0:11:07.840 marketing person, and it's terrible. Um, but these days you 0:11:07.880 --> 0:11:10.360 can get chickens from one of your neighbors, most likely, 0:11:10.400 --> 0:11:12.360 and that's what we do. It does smell like a 0:11:12.440 --> 0:11:14.880 what about is? Um? You know, I think it smells 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:17.800 like it because it very much is exactly that. Yeah. Yeah, 0:11:18.000 --> 0:11:21.720 so I I moren flall gry. I don't think I 0:11:21.760 --> 0:11:23.880 can really eat it anymore. I haven't eaten in a 0:11:24.000 --> 0:11:27.480 very long time. But um, I do have my memories 0:11:27.520 --> 0:11:32.040 with it, the livers of dead abused ducks that I've eaten. 0:11:32.280 --> 0:11:35.720 So I'm sorry ducks. I'm sorry, quack. That's okay, quack. 0:11:36.480 --> 0:11:39.400 I wonder if you know you said that they were 0:11:39.480 --> 0:11:41.920 meant or not meant to, but their livers would fatten 0:11:41.960 --> 0:11:44.040 up anyway for migration. I guess they are meant to. 0:11:44.720 --> 0:11:46.720 I wonder if these ducks run over there to get 0:11:46.720 --> 0:11:49.040 this force feeding, because they're like this is gonna get 0:11:49.080 --> 0:11:51.400 me out of here. Man, You're gonna fly, fly fly 0:11:51.480 --> 0:11:53.560 pretty soon. I got to get out of here. This 0:11:53.679 --> 0:11:58.280 is the worst. Oh goodness. Um and the unconstitutional thing, 0:11:58.280 --> 0:12:01.319 I'm like, what are they talking about? Suppose the state wise, 0:12:01.600 --> 0:12:06.160 it's unconstitutional because they're trying to regulate interstate commerce. But 0:12:06.640 --> 0:12:10.200 I don't know that that necessarily holds up mm hmm. Interesting. 0:12:10.960 --> 0:12:14.440 So there you go, flag everybody. Uh, go make up 0:12:14.440 --> 0:12:16.040 your own mind about it. Go do you a little 0:12:16.080 --> 0:12:18.600 research and see what you think. And in the meantime, 0:12:18.720 --> 0:12:23.719 Short Stuff is app Stuff you Should Know is a 0:12:23.760 --> 0:12:27.040 production of iHeart Radio's How Stuff Works. For more podcasts 0:12:27.160 --> 0:12:30.160 my Heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 0:12:30.240 --> 0:12:31.960 or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.