Since I don't get to see my high school friends that often I got together with some of them Tuesday night in downtown Springfield.
We had reservations at Virtuoso and the food was delicious! We ordered a lot of appetizers, had a good main course and shared some dessert as well. The wine selection was also top notch. The only complaint I would have about this place is that they offer Pecan Crusted Duck Foie Gras.
I know I'm not a vegetarian so maybe I shouldn't talk, but some methods of "fattening up" animals are pretty cruel and what they do to these ducks and geese is horrible! Foie Gras is French for "fatty liver" and the method in which they fatten them up is beyond cruel. The ducks and geese have tubes inserted down their throats and are force fed a ridiculous amount of food a few times a day and then those that don't suffer a frightening death endure disgusting conditions and painful maladies until they are slaughtered for food. So far Foie Gras has been banned in Chicago, California (I think was considering it), the U.K., Germany, the Czech Republic, Finland, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, and Israel.
The following investigation gives you a glimpse into this "delicacy of despair:"
Undercover investigations at America's two leading foie gras producers, Hudson Valley Foie Gras in New York and Sonoma Foie Gras in California, revealed horrific cruelty. Investigators from GourmetCruelty.com and the Animal Protection and Rescue League found that ducks were crammed into filthy, feces-ridden sheds and that others were isolated in wire cages that were so small that they could barely move. They also observed barrels full of dead ducks who had choked to death or whose organs had ruptured during the traumatic force-feeding process. The investigators rescued 15 ducks, including two who were being eaten alive by rats because they could not move. View video and photographic evidence of this cruelty.
A PETA investigation at Hudson Valley Foie Gras (then called "Commonwealth Enterprises") revealed extremely high death rates. So many ducks died when their stomachs burst from overfeeding that workers who killed fewer than 50 birds per month were given a bonus. In addition to ruptured stomachs and liver disease, many ducks develop foot infections, kidney necrosis, spleen damage, bruised and broken bills, and tumor-like lumps in their throats. One duck had a maggot-infested neck wound that was so severe that water spilled out of it when he drank.
I haven't clicked on the videos cause I think I would cry. If this isn't enough to stop you from partaking in this barbaric "delicacy" perhaps you'll take into consideration your own well being:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Geese force-fed and then slaughtered for their livers may get their final revenge on people who favor the delicacy known as foie gras: It may transmit a little-known disease known as amyloidosis, researchers reported on Monday.
Tests on mice suggest the liver, popular in French cuisine which uses it to make pate de foie gras and other dishes, may cause the condition in animals that have a genetic susceptibility to such diseases, Alan Solomon of the University of Tennessee and colleagues reported.
That would suggest that amyloidosis can be transmitted via food in a way akin to brain diseases such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, or CJD, which can cause a rare version of mad cow disease in some people who eat affected meat products or brains.
Amyloidosis can affect various organ systems in the body, which accumulate damaging deposits of abnormal proteins known as amyloid. The heart, kidneys, nervous system and gastrointestinal tract are most often affected but amyloidosis can also cause a blood condition.
The researchers used mice genetically engineered to be susceptible to amyloidosis, which can be inherited.
"When such mice were injected with or fed amyloid extracted from foie gras, the animals developed extensive systemic pathological deposits," Solomon's team reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Sometimes Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia, is described as a type of amyloidosis as well.
The amount of foie gras given to the mice would equal about 3 1/2 pounds over five days for humans, Solomon estimates. This may seem like a lot, especially considering that even in France the annual consumption is about half a pound. Yet evidence suggests that it takes very little of the protein clumps to instigate amyloidosis - and that amyloids, rather than being digested, may just lurk about until there are enough to cause disease. "This material can stay in the body indefinitely," Solomon says.
If the danger to humans turns out to be real, Penn's Whitehead admits thinking about "the delicious irony of those who live well doing themselves in with foie gras." This story recalls the days when gout was known as the disease of kings. Gout is caused by a diet rich in meat, so only the wealthy and overindulgent were afflicted.
In any case, the scientists wrote in their paper that "it would seem prudent for children and adults with rheumatoid arthritis or other diseases who are at risk . . . to avoid foods that may be contaminated by [amyloids]."
I'm thinking of writing a letter to Chef Cousin about how much I enjoyed his food, but wish he would not serve this cruelly derived appetizer...
My business trip took me to Mercy Medical Center and it was a successful meeting and presentation. Afterward I visited Tara in Pathology and that was cool to see where she worked. I then went back home and treated my dad to lunch at his favorite diner where he knows everyone, and they serve a clam chowder that's better than most I've had in Boston. I worked the rest of the day "at home" until going out with my mom and middle sister to whom I still owed dinner for her 30th birthday.
After dinner I packed up my things to head to my next trip to what someone dubbed recently, "The Hillbillies of New England."
More on that next time...
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