Published Letters and Op-Eds from
COK’s Writers Group

Grains Instead of Geese

In response to the article, "I Want My Foie Gras" by Pamela Wischkaemper, I find it profoundly disturbing that a thinking adult would proudly admit to valuing a gastronomical pleasure over the feelings of fellow living creatures. It's interesting that Ms. Wischkaemper finds the acts of animal advocates so reprehensible (sending e-mails or holding signs in front of restaurants), yet she openly embraces the foie gras industry--an industry that relies on the cruel practice of force-feeding ducks and geese to the point where their livers literally become diseased. If Ms. Wischkaemper is truly concerned about the impoverished men, women and children of the globe, as she purports to be, then the best thing she can do for them would be to give up eating meat (foie gras included), as the world's grains can then be fed directly to hungry people rather than to farm animals. Studies have shown that the entire human population could be fed many times over if people in wealthy countries made the switch to a vegetarian diet.

Julie Lehman
Reston, Virginia