YumSugar

PETA Leads Zombie Protest Outside Manhattan KFC

YumSugar — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 12:30:26 -0700

Animal-rights activism group PETA has come out with yet another inflammatory campaign. This year, they kicked their off Halloween festivities a few weeks early: On Saturday, more than 100 people gathered outside a Herald Square KFC dressed as blood-drenched zombies, holding signs that said, "I'd rather be dead than eat at KFC!"

The protest was part of the Kentucky Fried Cruelty campaign, which addresses concerns about KFC suppliers' treatment of chickens on farms and slaughterhouses. "Even flesh-eating zombies have nothing on the Colonel's cruelty," says PETA's Dan Shannon. "We're urging consumers not to set foot inside a KFC restaurant until the company stops these abuses."

Did any of you see the protest? Do you consider it to be effective at sending an important message, or is it just another obnoxious PETA ploy?

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PETA Releases Disturbing Pig Farm Video

partysugar — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:15:22 -0700

Animal rights activists PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, has released a highly unsettling, undercover video that shows the mishandling of pigs on an Iowa farm. Among other things, in the clip - which I couldn't watch all the way through - workers hit female pigs with metal rods and slam piglets on a concrete floor. The farm supplies pigs for pork giant Hormel, who has acknowledged the abuses as "completely unacceptable." While PETA claims that pig farm abuse is widespread and common, leading animal welfare expert Temple Grandin disagrees:

I've been on many good farms, and the pigs are handled gently. This was blatant, deliberate animal cruelty. These people are sick. They need to be prosecuted. There are certain people that enjoy hurting animals and they should not be working with them-period.

Being a carnivore, I have to agree with Grandin and hope that the meat I purchase is from humane farms. It will be interesting to see what becomes of the video and if the USDA steps in as it did with the California slaughterhouse that mistreated cows earlier this year.

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Foie Gras May Be Humanely Produced After All

YumSugar — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 05:50:46 -0800

When it comes to culinary controversy, there are few things more divisive than the fatty duck liver known as foie gras. The reason? The allegedly inhumane "gavage," or force-feeding process, which involves placing a metal tube down a duck's throat to deliver large amounts of food. In fact, the 5,000-year-old French delicacy has had such a bad reputation that it was once banned in Chicago, and will be banned in California by 2012.But in a recent investigative piece, Village Voice contributor Sarah DiGregorio visits the nation's biggest foie gras farm, Hudson Valley Foie Gras, and finds the process to be relatively inoffensive. She writes:

The sights could not have been more different from the horrifying images I'd seen on the Internet . . . the actual process with the tube didn't seem to bother them . . . Each waddled calmly away, looking unfazed: no breathing problems, no vomiting, and no trouble walking. Their feathers were fairly clean, and I didn't see any lesions on their feet or bodies . . . If I had seen with my own eyes that Hudson Valley produced foie gras by abusing ducks, this article would have turned out very differently. But that just wasn't the case.

I found myself relieved to read at least one perspective demonstrating that the production of foie gras was far less harmful than PETA and its opponents have portrayed it. Were you surprised by DiGregorio's investigation? What impact do you think this will have on the foie gras industry?

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Mangoes & Curry Leaves

YumSugar — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 09:48:01 -0800

One of my favorite things to do is head over to my public library and peruse their fantastic collection of cookbooks. Last time I was there, I picked up Mangoes & Curry Leaves: Culinary Travels Through The Great Subcontinent by Jeffrey Alford & Naomi Duguid. I was drawn to it because of the title (I love the flavors from that part of the world), and decided to check it out because of the way it looks.

The book, which is actually more of a coffee table book than a cookbook (not to the say that the recipes aren't well researched and delicious), reads like a travel essay and is filled with beautiful pictures. Often it's as if you're reading the writing of an old friend who's gone on an amazing vacation. A friend who's gathered recipes from cooks all over that region of the world (India, Sri Lanka and Nepal, just to name a few) and have tailored them to the North American home cook.

And although I enjoyed it thoroughly, I found that I didn't make too many of the recipes inside. This was mostly due to the fact that the book itself is quite large, heavy and cumbersome. It is definitely meant for the coffee table, not the kitchen counter. However, the recipes I did make, such as Zinet's Chicken With Tomato & Greens and Katchhi Village Pototo Curry, were absolutely delicious and I felt that the book exposed me to new cuisine experiences.

Overall, if you're a die-hard foodie, or are really into authentic cuisine from this region of the world, I'd definitely check out this book. However, if you're looking for something to use in your kitchen on a regular basis, I'd save your money and find something that can handle the kitchen abuse.