Morris

The truth of the matter is that eating Foie Gras is cruel to ducks. As Tramonto states (in a roundabout way), consuming any animal does not ultimately bode well for their existence and is as such, cruel. If Trotter’s point is this, then I guess it can be argued, but to have credibility he would need to cease serving or eating any animal product. If his point (which I believe it is) is that there is a higher degree of cruelty in producing Foie Gras than any other food product he serves, then there are several questions which first must be answered: Are animals able to determine pleasure from pain (in a sentient manner)?, If they are, then at what point would it be considered ‘cruel’? and Who is qualified to answer these questions. Most likely there are dozens, if not hundreds of examples of animal treatment pertaining to Trotter’s menu items that a significant number of rational, intelligent people would conclude exhibit greater cruelty than producing Foie Gras. He prides himself on serving ingredients (animals) that no other restaurants serve, because of their difficulty in procuring. Well, when the channels taken to receive shipment of these items are not ‘in the open’, wouldn’t it be reasonable to assume that ‘animal rights’ regulations are certainly not met? Most importantly, above all else, it is certainly reasonable to assume that he feels this way as well. Even subject to all the aforementioned questions, I would imagine anyone (including Trotter) would believe partially killing a Wild Boar and letting him die over the next hour and a half is crueler than force feeding a duck. The bottom line is that regardless of the fact that he is a self important, funny looking hypocrite; the media and public wouldn’t be giving him such a difficult time over the moronic statements he made in the Tribune article, if his food wasn’t bland, unimaginative and overpriced.