Dan Barber: A surprising parable of foie gras

[@WilsonSemilio]

One of the best TED talks I've seen! This has GOT to be one of the ways forward if we are to save our planet: Re-structure farming / agriculture.

[@pam8585]

"Because chefs don't deserve my foie gras" best line ever.

[@gcbranco]

I've seen this video a dozen times, and a dozen times it has moved me, both by Dan's eloquent story-telling talent and by Eduardo's marvelous approach to foie-gras production

[@mosiah9205]

Same here. Videos like this are inspiring and give me hope. Maybe a little cheesy to say, but it's how I'm feeling.

[@UliKaiser]

Yes!!!

[@TheHardCore89]

You’ll be surprised to know that Eduardo’s way of making foie gras is actually the original way of making foie gras… it wasn’t invented by the French but by the Romans. And they made it exactly like Eduardo😊 Quite fascinating in my opinion😅

[@Lucien135]

Fun fact to anyone reading this. Insider business made a video about eduardo and his farm.

[@Gravy_moat]

Dan Barber has such a way with words. Can make any story captivating, his passion for food really shines through the way he speaks.

[@davidchoimusic]

LoveMattersMost, watch this again before commenting. This video has nothing to do with animal torture.

[@suckerfree23]

As Louross of Hell's Kitchen (Season 4) said, "Make love to the fish!" His Foie Gras is about expressing nature, in its purest form, not about romanticizing brutality. As a chef, it brings tears to my eyes seeing such dedication, such love of the earth and its creatures.

[@kokoro37]

Coming back to watch this video again 11 years after I first watched it. Still as enlightening and amazing as the first time I watched it. Gives me a sense of awe for nature and the farmers doing extensive farming instead of intensive. Great job.

[@jcflorezz]

Dan Barber is one of the most important chefs this world has right now.

[@ThanksgivingWalk]

Fair warning! The first 2 mintues of this film will "bother" many. For those of you with patience, a love for the fair treatment of animals, and a sense of self responsibility for the way we treat the earth, this is for you. Enjoy.

[@InnuendoXP]

I've never understood that personally. In my country the vast majority of cows are pasture-fed, "grain-fed" beef is only grain-fed for the last 3 months of the cows life to promote fat gain. Grain is far more expensive than grass here. Factory farming of any kind is an unpleasant affair though. Meat is a luxury really, we've just all gotten too used to being able to get it cheaply. If we paid what it should be worth then animals would be raised better.

[@asgabeler]

The Goose Whisperer, The geese actually squawk to the geese flying by, come eat with us!

[@LloydieP]

This chef has been a huge inspiration for me. Funny how the comments are here are mostly thoughtful and reasonable.

[@SkyeTsow]

Now look at them

[@TheNewLemurian]

When you work with nature, nature works with you. I love this chef!

[@DavidBall67]

As a spokesperson for ethics, Barber is a cut above

[@suckerfree23]

I keep a garden, which acts like a band-aid to my open wound caused by 'fast food', microwave dinners, but, this man, goes the extra step to fulfill the vacuum in the culinary status quo. Food in the most pure, most delicate, and most beautiful form is what makes life special.

[@DixyRae]

If you, personally, consider it disgusting then don't partake in meat-eating. Equating the act of taking another human's life to eating fried chicken crosses the line of sane argument.

[@Reggieworth]

500 bucks a kilo for Eduardo's confit im so glad to see ethical treatment of animals brought to the forefront by someone other than hippies sustainable agriculture is vital for sustainable human existance

[@kinguther0]

Wow... Gave me a different perspective of Foie Gras. and that presenter was awesome.

[@btwbrand]

Over the past three years( same amount of time I've been unemployed) I've had the chance to Sit back and watch the Hustle and Bustle of "life" as I knew it from a spectators view. There are so many Unnatural habits people have adopted to increase production and speed of production.. Always at the expense of quality and environment. It's a pleasure to hear the story of Eduardo and his consideration of his geese as they do what they do. Live.

[@JKayification]

When the geese topple our human regime and institute a brutal avian autocracy, only a few chefs will survive the initial carnage.

[@petrina33]

How do I get this naturally raised Foie gras! I want to eat some. I haven't eaten foie gras in years because of how it's produced.

[@TomEveson99]

Great story, engaging speaker!

[@CheezMonsterCrazy]

iosuVakerizzo, people who hunt "for fun" as you put it most usually eat the animal they kill, or donate it to charities that use the meat to feed the hungry. Recreational hunting is also helps with population control, since the amount of predators in most places is relatively low nowadays due to human settlement.

[@WilsonSemilio]

Maybe a lot o people are watching on the TED site? At least one would hope so...

[@astephiesteph]

He loved his geese soooo much that he took their livers...

[@GedenWilbur]

I know right? "This guy love his geese like his kids" dude someone needs to go take the kids away from this man,.

[@steven4966]

Who else is here after that ‘natural foie gras’ vid lol. Man is a legend

[@fandm_fun504]

Mee!! 😭✋

[@Trazynn]

Lions don't make their prey suffer for a life-time. And I love how you dodged johnyprestige's "two wrongs don't make a right"

[@Ebvardh]

It hardly classifies as cruel. Cruel means to cause pain or suffering without feeling concern about those you're hurting. Making sure an animal lives the best life possible before you kill it is hardly a lack of concern.

[@boxant]

Very interesting talk, and I hope we move in this direction.

[@victoriagreer4297]

Excellent! Enlightening.

[@maniacguitar]

@astephiesteph would you say the same to a broccoli farmer? he loves planting his broccoli so much that he just cuts them in the end. Just 'cuz ducks have an anatomy a bit closer to us (made out of meat) doesn't mean they are more of a living creature than a plant is. Plants communicate in different ways (chemical concoctions) so they appear to us as a "non-living" creature. We live off food, we will die eventually, so does geese. Would you rather the geese live a horrible life while they live?

[@DixyRae]

Self hatred redirected into guilt about being human, and reinforced by animal rights activism? What I'm not getting is whether you're getting more worked up over the fact that animals are killed at all, or that some poachers use unnecessarily cruel methods? Yeah, habitats get threatened, that is why we have systems (funded partly by hunting organizations) that research and protect wildlife. If hunting were illegal, poaching would skyrocket and whole populations would be wiped out.

[@TigerYoshiki]

Now I want my blue ketchup and crystal pepsi back starring at neon yellow foie-gras. (Yeah, I know this TED is about using natural procedures to improve food, not chemicals)

[@william4261]

apparently our taste buds are more important then their only life

[@dwzcollege]

yes

[@ridethespiral1219]

Such a phenomenal speaker. Love his eloquence and ability to tie everything together.

[@GlaciusTS]

Lol, someone comes up with a humane way to produce Foie Gras and people complain about animal killing for food. Seriously Vegans, pick your battles. If you aren't happy with the cruelty towards animals, be supportive towards alternatives. If this practice of producing Foie Gras isn't picked up, the force feeding continues. Your complaints towards a humane practice actually keep the force feeding in business.

[@SkyeTsow]

THIS IS WHAT INFURIATES ME. THEY REJECT ALL PROGRESS EXCEPT TOTAL VEGANISM

[@megatobias]

compare it with wars, it used to be totally fine to do ANYTHING, like using chemical weapons and starving the population. Now progress is (being) made and circumstances are improved. Does this mean that war is now fine and dandy and isn't bad? No, but progress is progress, so don't get mad for banning chemical weapons but be happy that progress is being made.

[@hasnapapadaa7709]

GlaciusTS kocM

[@GedenWilbur]

The world is going to go vegan at some point. Humanity will realize on their futile search of the universe to find life, that the best chances we have are guiding other lifeforms to evolve with dignity. Even if we find a bacterial lifeform on another planet, it will not be as fascinating or evolved as on ours. We will look back on our meat industry in the same way we look back on concentration camps. Except the meat industry is more cruel.

[@kristofferkavallin]

I did watch the video. I still dislike it. Look, the farmer in this video may treat his animals better than others, but that doesn't make it right. Compare it with a honest slave-owner: "Oh, hes such a loving adorable person, he treats his slaves good!" and you just might get the point.

[@karatatatekid]

lol. i have dan barber for my CIA gastro project right now!

[@C00kii0]

I just picked him as a Chef for my paper 😂

[@massivereader]

MishaVargas, You may well be right, not being a speaker of french, nor a consumer of foie gras, I have never had occasion or the need to actually pronounce the word. I was responding to a question in an earlier post. That is what the person framing the question thought the speaker in this video was saying. I simply pointed out the correct spelling was in the title and informed him that it meant "liver of fat goose"

[@vlasevmovement]

Amazing. For the disgusted people - please watch again and really try to learn. This all sounds really amazing. However, how are we going to feed everybody with the good, sound, ecological way?

[@takoyukki]

this was uploaded more than 4 years ago.

[@melody5437]

And?

[@takoyukki]

@@melody5437 I made that comment more than 4 years ago

[@melody5437]

@@takoyukki And?

[@InfectedDaemon]

JanetKeleher There are 10 essential aminoacids that the human must consume for a correct development, 2 of which only come in meat, add to that that most grains on there own don't contain all of the rest of aminoacids. Plus we also need B12, that is found exclusively in meat (vegans have to receive B12 shots monthly) deficiency = Microcitic or Pernicious Anemia and subacute combined spinal cord degeneration. Also, grains and vegetables are usually a very poor source of Niacin = Pellagra.

[@browntran]

"No force-feeding, no factory-like conditions, no cruelty..." Until it comes time to kill the bird and remove the liver, right? If we're going to eat meat let's be honest about the cruelty of slaughtering animals for food "because they're so freakin' delicious." I'm not opposed to eating animals or foie gras, but come on, it's cruel to kill something and eat it.

[@int3rl0per]

Read the wikipedia page "History of the Jews in Egypt" - it's been pretty well established that they've been a good chunk of the population of Alexandria since its founding.

[@kathleenmckeon9926]

Wow some real negative people on here. Thats alright if you are on the CAFTA sites and working hard on those animals behalf. I for one will be looking to see your impact.

[@piedadsaiz]

This guy runs one of the most toxic and abusive restaurants in the US

[@DixyRae]

My problem with vegans (vegetarians are usually less obnoxious) is that they take their lifestyle choice and present it to the rest of the world as moral doctrine. I don't like being preached to no matter what the subject. Being told by a vegan that eating something tasty is immoral and makes me comparable to a nazi is just as bad as a religious fanatic telling me that having sex when and how I want will earn me a ticket to hell.

[@massivereader]

"Fo gra" is how you pronounce the french words "Foie Gras" in the video title. It refers to "liver of fat goose". It is a meat product traditionally produced by force feeding geese and excess of grain until their livers grow to 8 times the normal size. It is widely considered a culinary delicacy due to the rich taste.

[@barath4545]

@kinguther0 Agree completely. Awesome video. Only problem with Foie Gras like this, is the way it can become too intense in flavour.

[@billybobmcdougal]

I thought it was called lichin (Liken) bush. Never heard of lupen bush. Anybody have any input on that?

[@DixyRae]

They still both impose personal morals onto other people, which, to me, seems more wrong than eating a burger.

[@wischef64]

It would were not for the fact that my answers to those questions differ greatly from yours.

[@JosuVaquerizo]

you are absolutely right Cypherson, I should not let my tempert come into it and i should not insult people, but some of his comments at the begining of this video i found pretty insulting and offensive. Anyway, you are right, i should argue my point without insulting anyone. I appologize to Mr Barber, but i still find some of what he said deeply insulting, and anger is only a sign of caring. I wasn't so much argueing, i was responding to what i saw as a very unfair attitude towards animals.

[@JacekNasiadek]

You should wake up. Search for a video on YT entitled: The Most important Video You'll Ever See (it's broken into 8 parts, watch them all). Also search for term 'peak oil' on YT. So the more of us there are the better we'll be at creating solutions to problems arising because there's too many of us? I'm speechless... Can't argue with such impeccable logic.

[@wishIdpaidattention]

putting vegetable peelings, leaf cutting, lawn mowings in my compost bin produces an incredible amount of insect life all breaking everything down to a teeming pulsating mass of life. Put this in the garden and what grows is full of energy.Couldn't be simpler and more meaningful imo. Every plant, insect , animal and human benefits within this generous environment .

[@fern3R]

@browntran for me it isn't cruel to kill something to EAT it, for me it relies on how you do it, for example the north american meat industry, how they kill animals for mass production in contrast there is Kobe beef or Kosher meat or butcheries where animals live surrounded by nature with enough space for each one instead of crowded rooms without light and where they eat genetically modified food; also there is gabage in France and natural foie gras in Spain and USA,

[@audaciousamateur]

It's best with some fava beans and a nice chianti.

[@mickisuzanne]

This video was sent to me by a friend who has a goose farm. Note that I am vegetarian and love birds. Well, she loves her birds too. She cries at harvest. We need to remember that farmers feed us. There is a Buddhist quote, something like "don't hate the butcher if you eat the meat." I think this is an incredible message and believe Eduardo's message of listening to nature should be brought to prominence in this country and elsewhere.

[@markus310773]

He has some interesting points. On the one hand I believe that we really have to become more conscious of what we eat for both ethical and environmental reasons. If people would theoretically eat more Kobe meat for example, they would automatically eat less due to its high prices. Which would be good for us (health), the environment (meat "production" is not very ecological) and ethical (the cows get treated very well... to be continued

[@sheripennington3900]

this may true for this farmer but how many others are doing it just to make money. if the treatment of the geese were regulated to see that they were treated humanely there wouldn't be a problem. every living creature on this planet deserves humane treatment.

[@pascoett]

Really good speech about this difficult issue. How ever problematic the interest in just a small part of a goose may be - here is the prove to have an ecologially and morally better way to attain it. We don't have to forbid eveything, but we have to think about what we eat, where it comes from and how the animals are treated. You may also watch the multimedia page of the Pateria de Sousa, it is very interesting too!

[@merx444]

woah... i think your in my block! i have wasser. but are you in the second half of B block?

[@johnyprestige]

to your last question : No one is forcing you to eat meat, why do you feel the need to try and force others not to? which is worse? forcing someone not to eat meat or forcing an animal to die so that you can have a burger that you don't appreciate. i believe the upsides to this argument are better than the downsides...

[@n3wby001]

I was hinting more towards genetically engineered crops and plants. It's not natural but it is the only way we can feed so many people.

[@AlmightScoop]

mmmmmmmmm..... I love fois gras. I really really want to try this stuff. If I ever go to Spain.

[@DanielBarber-mo2en]

His taste is more important than the goose , huh , and people think he is bright! Sad indeed

[@tomh6339]

I actually meant that if you could accept your own mortality then you might find it easier to accept eating something that has died. The simple fact of animal death is not the issue, animal welfare is the issue. We need to improve standards of care in animal husbandry.

[@InnuendoXP]

Far less cruel than things like shark finning. Because let's be REALLY honest. Whatever anyone's position on eating meat.. I think we can all agree, just because we eat animals, doesn't mean we have to be dicks about it.

[@richardhod2]

This was on "This American Life" last year. This is how he heard about it.

[@josehawkins4276]

Very Tasteful. Treat other beings as if you were that being. Much more satisfiying than doing into other people like ourselves.

[@Rantandreason]

It was great up until his story of the jews. Egypt never kept slaves. And it was two Israeli archeologists that discovered this fact.

[@JimBCameron]

Brilliant! Please watch this. :)

[@johnyprestige]

anything that feels or has been subjected to "pain" in order you to benefit i would consider disgusting, unless you had no other option to survive. but last time i checked surviving isn't on my list of worries.

[@Jshmelo]

But they do make a deeeeelicous pate.

You are what you eat, it shouldn't be mass produced garbage.

[@josehawkins4276]

Excellent.

[@DixyRae]

What about insects, or oysters, or crabs? Or is only immoral to eat the cuddly animals?

[@MishaVargas]

LoveMattersMost, if you'd listen to what everyone is saying, you'd realize that this video is specifically about NOT torturing animals. Wait, I'm confused - does your criticism of this anti-abuse video mean you support animal torture? Unplug your ears, LMM, and listen to people.

[@SchinTeth]

Did you even watch the video

[@DixyRae]

Its proposed that our dexterous hands are evolved to pick seeds. We walk upright to watch for predators. We have color, binocular vision for easier hunting of insects (mind you, the species was fairly small at this point). Cats also have binocular vision for hunting. It is a predatory adaptation. We are omnivorous. We can survive on just plants if we want, AND we can survive on just meat if we are adapted in certain ways. Inuits are a good example of an all meat diet, mostly red meat and fat.

[@baronmorris]

it takes 16 lbs of grain to raise 1 lb of meat, and 100 x the H2O. Just sayin, if feeding the starving is at issue, then meat should be off the menu. We don't have scarcity, we have resource mismanagement (and manufactured/percieved scarcity, thx to marketing, etc.) peace

[@Unclejohntyskitchen]

Just brilliant, thank you.

[@JosuVaquerizo]

eating animals "because they taste pretty delicious" is a very selfish act, it is like a murderer saying "i killed this guy because i found him annoying and it felt really good to extinguish his stupid life". That kind of excuse is not much of an excuse. If you are inteligent enough to be sitting at a computer, talking about knowing your history and watching TED, you should also be inteligent enough to step aside from the "i likes" and "dislikes" and start judging your own actions critically.

[@markus310773]

.... On the other hand, however, we face huge problems with food production. The worldwide population has become too big. In order to get food to everybody we have to unfortunately also have to find other solutions. Otherwise we would need much more land for agriculture... One solution might be birth control but that's another story (the big religions don't like it). Nevertheless I believe it is very important for us to become more conscious of what and how we eat.

[@ohmichael203]

Eating foie gras is equal to child molestation? I don't like foie gras but you need to get some perspective.

[@tomh6339]

I wouldn't hold it against a hippopotamus if it killed me to defend its young, nor would I deem a whacking great saltwater crocodile to be morally wrong if it consumed me for sustenance. If a goose managed to kill me it wouldn't be in the wrong. In our society, however, we have submitted to the social contract and we're not permitted to kill or even injure each other whatever the reason.

[@JosuVaquerizo]

I wasnt talking about hunters who kill for fun, those are all bastards in my opinion. I was talking about the possibility of life as nature intended, however anyone who kills animals for food when they dont really need to is disgusting in my eyes. I agree about no difference between consumer, worker, hunter, thats why i am so pissed off about it, they are all equally guilty. However, my point was that if people had to hunt every meal they wouldnt eat so much meat, they wouldnt have the time!

[@snrugh]

I thought it was a good talk. Just because I don't agree with the point of view doesn't mean his talk was poorly done.

[@JosuVaquerizo]

a being of such an amount of inteligence should be capable of choosing what is moraly right over what "tastes good". And by the way if you think that killing animals for food is moraly right, then you are not considering this issue in an objective manner. You are purposely(although possibly without realizing) ignoring the way in which some 99% of the animals you eat are being treated(that's right, knowing that someone in spain treats the animals well doesn't change what you actually eat!) + more

[@matthewbaumann630]

It's nice they don't want to factory farm them, but I still don't want to eat ducks or chickens.

[@panstriato2]

No, it is not true if more of us grow food in more places.

[@finn7530]

anyone else here from business insider’s foie gras episode?

[@matthewj1985]

I am a classically trained French Chef and I just can't get over how creepy this guy looks. I love foie gras, I HATE how it is made and refuse to use it but this guy just creeps me out......

[@VliengWieng]

You still have to kill them though....

[@C00kii0]

Everything dies.

[@karatatatekid]

yeah. i'm in the second half. i have raider. at 7 in the am.

[@JacekNasiadek]

I could understand your argument if you were at least advocating sacrificing our high standard of living on the altar of some worthy cause (like freedom and peace). But you're essentially saying we should sacrifice it to increase our numbers (and in the process probably exterminate many more species of animals than we already have).

[@Voiceguitar]

this makes me feel sick - force fed? seems uncivil if its an animal or not

[@lordmetroid]

I have to get some evidence of that to believe it.

[@Cypherson]

Lesson for life. Get all the facts before you make radical sweeping generalizations and call someone out. Watch the whole thing and you'll see... People eat animals, and your opinion dictates your actions, not anyone else's. You forcing your opinion on a meat eating person would be akin to someone forcing you to eat meat.

[@gwc3721]

Most ingratiating video Ive ever watched. This guy feels so guilty about what he is eating he dreams up how he feels about food. And why the necisity to inject "a jew from NY"?

[@finn7530]

humor. he was playing into his stereotype.

[@JosuVaquerizo]

And with this i am leaving this conversation, it is very annoying as there isn't enough space here to elavorate on anything properly and i can't be bothered to write any more messages, i hope you read them in the right order or they wont make any sense. Also I can't be bothered with idiots (not you) with no ideas of their own but who dislike what i am saying because it takes them out of the confort of their mindless routines, and who as a result write back complaining about my spelling.