Power, Pain, and the Interspecies Politics of Foie Gras

• Published date: 01 June 2012
• Date: 01 June 2012
• DOI: 10.1177/1065912911398049
• Author: Rafi Youatt
• Subject Matter: Articles

Political Research Quarterly
65(2) 346 –358
Power, Pain, and the Interspecies
© 2012 University of Utah
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Politics of Foie Gras
DOI: 10.1177/1065912911398049
http://prq.sagepub.com
Rafi Youatt1
Abstract
This article examines the practices, logics, and politics of foie gras production and consumption. It argues that scholars
need to rethink both pain and sentience to account for the fact that ducks are responsive, and not just reactive. Rather
than using the capacities of animals to judge when power relations between species are acceptable, it suggests that
scholars should start with the power relations themselves to account for how animal and human experiences are
made.
Keywords
animal rights, Derrida, foie gras, biopolitics
In April 2006, the Chicago City Council passed legisla-
were translated into these debates. More than just a neu-
tion that banned the sale of foie gras within city limits.
tral vehicle for the expression of preexisting political
Two years later, the council reversed itself and rescinded
views, the very meanings of sentience and pain in these
the ban, citing concerns about the overreach of council
birds were a critical pole in public discussion. Did the
authority and the fact that Chicago had become, in the
ostensibly “natural” behavior of geese and ducks in the
words of Mayor Richard Daley, the “laughingstock of
wild authorize certain kinds of treatments under domesti-
the nation.”1 Tellingly, both the ban and its repeal were
cation? Could we substitute their behavior in captivity for
passed through parliamentary maneuverings that ensured
verbal assent or dissent? How much did the biological
that no formal debates took place. The initial ban was
constitution of their bodies, such as the presence or
slipped into broader package of legislation, while its sub-
absence of a gag reflex, matter in judging cruelty? Was
sequent repeal used parliamentary tactics to prevent any
pain a category that could seamlessly be read across
discussion on the floor.
human and bird experiences?
If there was little official debate, a lively public dis-
What united most voices was the assumption that it is
cussion over foie gras did occur, addressing both its pro-
possible to derive an appropriate ethical and political
duction and its consumption. Animal welfare and animal
stance toward ducks and geese based on their biological
rights groups argued for its symbolic importance in a city
capacities, or lack thereof. For animal rights advocates,2
once famous for its meatpacking industry, hoping a ban
the capacity for sentience, associated with the ability to
could usher in a broader reconsideration of meat produc-
feel pain, was the baseline for arguments against foie gras
tion. Famous chefs in the city clashed publicly, with some
based on cruelty. For defenders of foie gras, a variety of
protesting the ban by running what one chef called “duck-
natural capacities constituted the grounds for accepting
easies.” A famous Chicago hot dog establishment, Hot
the practice: ducks are unlike humans in a way that would
Doug’s, openly flouted the ban and foie gras’s fine-
mean they qualify as political subjects worthy of protec-
dining reputation, serving a foie gras hot dog and receiv-
tion, and their evolved capacities to overeat in prepara-
ing the first foie gras ticket for $250. Coming on the heels
tion for winter migration suggest an authorization for
of legislation banning smoking in Chicago bars and gun-
force-feeding them in captivity.
control ordinances, a vocal libertarian contingent saw the
ban on foie gras as an unwarranted political intervention
into the economic and lifestyle choices of individuals.
1
Many people thought the entire matter was a waste of
New School for Social Research, New York, NY, USA
time, compared to the more pressing problems of crime
Corresponding Author:
and poverty facing the city.
Rafi Youatt, New School for Social Research, Department
In sometimes unpredictable ways, the actions of the
of Politics, 6 E. 16th St., Room 722, New York, NY 10003
ducks and geese out of whose bodies foie gras is made
Email: youattr@newschool.edu

---

Youatt
347
After reviewing the different production processes
There are three general methods of producing foie
involved in foie gras, the article advances an alternative
gras: traditional, industrial, and ethical (or humane). The
framework for thinking about foie gras production and
traditional method, mostly employed by the few U.S. pro-
consumption. Rather than using the capacities of animals
ducers, entails keeping the birds in small groups and
as an answer to the question of when and which power
feeding them individually by hand.4 The ducks are ini-
relations between species are acceptable, I suggest that
tially hatched, raised, and fed in conventional fashion.
we should start with the power relations themselves
Twelve to fourteen weeks after hatching, they are brought
and seek instead to understand how power produces
into feeding barns where gavage begins. The birds are fed
subjectivities—understood in broad terms—across spe-
a corn-based mixture, by inserting a tube with a funnel on
cies lines. In doing so, I grant analytic (but not biological
one end down the esophagus of the bird. The person
or political) equality to the experiences of humans and
doing the feeding then turns on an electric motor con-
ducks as effects of power and then seek to explain how
nected to a wire auger, which pushes the feed down the
those experiences are differently produced in specific
tube into the bird’s crop. The feeding lasts approximately
contexts. I argue that ethical, and to a lesser extent tradi-
thirty seconds to one minute and takes place two to three
tional, forms of foie gras production can legitimately
times a day for ducks and four times a day for geese. The
encounter ducks as responsive, rather that just reactive,
process lasts between four and five weeks, before the
agents and therefore able to accept certain forms of pain.
birds are sent to the slaughterhouse.
At the same time, I suggest that there is also an uncom-
A second method of gavage is an industrial one. Here,
fortable biopolitical connection between the process of
to facilitate feeding, the birds are kept individually in
gavage and the logics involved in making ducks killable,
small cages, rather than in groups. Whereas the traditional
one that stretches beyond the foie gras context to meat
method involves the same person tending to a smaller
production more generally.
group of ducks, the industrial method allows one individ-
ual to tend to between eight hundred and one thousand
What Is Foie Gras?
ducks per day (Ginor et al. 1999, 80). Using a pneumatic
pressure feeder rather than a wire auger, each bird can be
Foie gras, translated from the French, means “fatty
fed in a few seconds. The birds are ready for slaughter
liver,” referring to the enlarged liver of a goose or duck.3
after only two weeks, which reduces labor costs and
However, a more accurate term is “fattened liver,” since
increases overall productivity. However, industrial foie
the birds must be actively induced or forced to overeat
gras is an inferior product in terms of taste and size, and
through a process called “gavage” (or cramming) to pro-
most industrial foie gras is therefore used for pâtés and
duce an enlarged liver up to ten times the normal size.
canned products rather than served as meat in restaurants.
Historically, foie gras was produced from geese, but
Animal welfare advocates argue that the practice of
most foie gras is now produced from ducks. This shift is
force-feeding geese is cruel in both traditional and indus-
due primarily to the greater economic efficiency of rais-
trial methods. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
ing ducks. Ginor et al. (1999) note that geese do not
(PETA) and Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) docu-
breed year-round (unlike ducks), which means that the
ment situations in which they claim that significant dam-
seasons must be simulated through careful regulation of
age is caused to the esophagus by the insertion of the tube
indoor lighting to induce breeding. It is also more difficult
and point out that geese with massively swollen livers are
to keep large numbers of geese in one location than with
sometimes unable to walk or breathe (Cook 2007, 264).
ducks because of greater health risks. The throats of geese
Moreover, for a variety of health-related reasons, the
are more fragile than those of ducks, leading to higher labor
mortality rate of force-fed birds is up to twenty times
costs and greater mortality rates among the birds. In France,
greater than that of non-force-fed ducks (Baker and
the world’s biggest consumer of foie gras, 94 percent of
Zhang 2006).
foie gras now comes from ducks and only 6 percent comes
A third, newer form of foie gras production is ethical
from geese (Le Neindre et al. 1998, 16).
(or humane) foie gras. The humane method involves no
Foie gras consumption in the United States has grown
force-feeding. Instead, it allows the birds to overeat on
over the past twenty years from almost zero to 420 tons
their own, drawing on the “natural” inclination of birds to
per year in 2005, almost of all which (95 percent) is con-
fatten up to create energy reserves for winter migrations.
sumed in urban...