Press Release: 'Taste of Leeds festival condemned for cruelty'
Rupert Stevens | 03.06.2008 20:55 | Animal Liberation
A taste festival supported by the Yorkshire Post, Channel 4 and Radio Aire has been condemned by anti-cruelty campaigners who have spotted that notorious chef Andrew Pern of the Star Inn will be personally preparing a dish incorporating foie gras.
A spokesperson from the campaigning group Foie Gras Free North has stated that the group have received several e-mails bringing the matter to their attention, whilst expressing concern that this event is to go ahead supporting the completely unnecessary cruelty inflicted on ducks and geese inherent in the production of foie gras.
Rupert Stevens of the Foie Gras Free North campaign said 'We have been made aware that this event is due to take place from the 5th - 8th June at Millenium Square in Leeds. We have recently been notified that Malmaison in Leeds has decided to place foie gras back on their menu, and their head chef Peter Conlin will be attending the event. However, more importantly, despite knowing that foie gras is the product of brutality, that geese and ducks are kept in tiny cages so they cannot spread their wings and have no water to bathe, despite knowing that they are force fed three to four times a day via a process illegal in the UK, through a metal pipe until their livers grow to a distressing ten times of their natural size, and despite their lives being cut cruelly short, either in the slaughterhouse or through the rupturing of internal organs. Andrew Pern from the Star Inn is going to showcase the cooking of this abominable product, and encourage people to support this abhorrent trade.
'As a campaigning group we encourage people to boycott and protest against this event. Chefs are allowed to get away with supporting appalling acts of cruelty in order to create the next taste sensation, that animals have to suffer unnecessarily in this way so that chefs can showcase their 'talents' is quite frankly disgusting.'
Rupert Stevens said that 'There are many things in this world that are worth campaigning for, encouraging people to be aware and responsible for their actions in regard to animals and the environment are really important. People like Andrew Pern need to be convinced that they can cook responsibly without supporting such cruelty. The fact that few dishes at the festival will be vegetarian or vegan just goes to show the dearth of talent that is really on offer, many of these chefs are probably incapable of producing good food without the use of animal products.'
Rupert Stevens concluded that 'there are many people who are meat eaters, vegetarian or vegan who are opposed to the production of foie gras. It should be illegal to sell in the UK due to the cruelty involved, and the freedoms of people to abuse animals in such a way ought to be curtailed. Gaining pleasure from foie gras is something which should not be celebrated, it should be abhorred.'
Background:
Foie Gras is French for 'fatty liver' and is produced from the
diseased liver of a goose or duck. At birth the female ducks or geese
are killed, for it is the males that will grow faster to produce the
desired liver. For the males it traditionally involves force feeding
large quantities of corn boiled with fat, which is pushed into the gut
via a funnel attached to a long tube which can lacerate their throats.
Typically, force feeding takes place four times a day for eighteen days,
starting when the birds only reach the age of twelve weeks. The ducks
and geese are kept in tiny cages with no room to move and no water to
swim in. They are then killed and their livers - weighing up to 3lb -
are prepared as an expensive 'delicacy'.
On FGFN:
We are opposed to the production of foie gras via the gavage method,
and also the so called 'ethical' foie gras, which in itself is a
condemnation of the unethical practices commonly involved. Indeed,
'ethical' foie gras has been likened to placing a human being in a
sweet shop with an insatiable urge for compulsive eating. The geese
and ducks are fed an unnatural diet, and their innate need to put on
weight for the migration is massively over exploited by farmers. The
lives of these geese and ducks are then cruelly cut short in the
slaughterhouse, as their living journey as a commodity comes to an
end.
For further information: www.foiegrasfreenorth.co.uk
For more information on the event:
http://www.channel4.com/life/microsites/T/taste2008/events/leeds/features_1.html
Rupert Stevens of the Foie Gras Free North campaign said 'We have been made aware that this event is due to take place from the 5th - 8th June at Millenium Square in Leeds. We have recently been notified that Malmaison in Leeds has decided to place foie gras back on their menu, and their head chef Peter Conlin will be attending the event. However, more importantly, despite knowing that foie gras is the product of brutality, that geese and ducks are kept in tiny cages so they cannot spread their wings and have no water to bathe, despite knowing that they are force fed three to four times a day via a process illegal in the UK, through a metal pipe until their livers grow to a distressing ten times of their natural size, and despite their lives being cut cruelly short, either in the slaughterhouse or through the rupturing of internal organs. Andrew Pern from the Star Inn is going to showcase the cooking of this abominable product, and encourage people to support this abhorrent trade.
'As a campaigning group we encourage people to boycott and protest against this event. Chefs are allowed to get away with supporting appalling acts of cruelty in order to create the next taste sensation, that animals have to suffer unnecessarily in this way so that chefs can showcase their 'talents' is quite frankly disgusting.'
Rupert Stevens said that 'There are many things in this world that are worth campaigning for, encouraging people to be aware and responsible for their actions in regard to animals and the environment are really important. People like Andrew Pern need to be convinced that they can cook responsibly without supporting such cruelty. The fact that few dishes at the festival will be vegetarian or vegan just goes to show the dearth of talent that is really on offer, many of these chefs are probably incapable of producing good food without the use of animal products.'
Rupert Stevens concluded that 'there are many people who are meat eaters, vegetarian or vegan who are opposed to the production of foie gras. It should be illegal to sell in the UK due to the cruelty involved, and the freedoms of people to abuse animals in such a way ought to be curtailed. Gaining pleasure from foie gras is something which should not be celebrated, it should be abhorred.'
Background:
Foie Gras is French for 'fatty liver' and is produced from the
diseased liver of a goose or duck. At birth the female ducks or geese
are killed, for it is the males that will grow faster to produce the
desired liver. For the males it traditionally involves force feeding
large quantities of corn boiled with fat, which is pushed into the gut
via a funnel attached to a long tube which can lacerate their throats.
Typically, force feeding takes place four times a day for eighteen days,
starting when the birds only reach the age of twelve weeks. The ducks
and geese are kept in tiny cages with no room to move and no water to
swim in. They are then killed and their livers - weighing up to 3lb -
are prepared as an expensive 'delicacy'.
On FGFN:
We are opposed to the production of foie gras via the gavage method,
and also the so called 'ethical' foie gras, which in itself is a
condemnation of the unethical practices commonly involved. Indeed,
'ethical' foie gras has been likened to placing a human being in a
sweet shop with an insatiable urge for compulsive eating. The geese
and ducks are fed an unnatural diet, and their innate need to put on
weight for the migration is massively over exploited by farmers. The
lives of these geese and ducks are then cruelly cut short in the
slaughterhouse, as their living journey as a commodity comes to an
end.
For further information: www.foiegrasfreenorth.co.uk
For more information on the event:
http://www.channel4.com/life/microsites/T/taste2008/events/leeds/features_1.html
Rupert Stevens
