moreover, apart from PETA-inspired rants against this “Delicacy of Despair”– rants largely based on the same sort of soft-toss science that popularizes Glycemic Indices and the South Beach Diet–the reaction of the scientific community to the issue of “duck torture” shows that this is first and foremost a political issue, not a moral one. ducks (actually all migratory fowl) gorge themselves before the cold season so as to maximize their ability to fly long distances without break. anthropomorphizing the ducks provides the false visual analogy that gavage–the French word for the feeding process–chokes the ducks, though they lack a gag reflex and are comfortable breathing even with the tube in their throats (they breathe through their tongues). finally, the best livers only come from the best treated ducks: the reason you don’t see wild duck liver being used as an ingredient is that the stress placed on the bird is greater and environmental effects–like contaminated water, poor feeding conditions and deteriorating habitats–do not make for the best treated duck.

really, the issue is a classist attack on a traditionally elite ingredient that few in America have ever tried and that animal rights activists want to hold up as a victory. i’d rather coddle the ducky to produce a yummy liver than free him to live in a hostile, polluted and mostly indifferent world.