The Naturecultures of Foie Gras

Abstract

Based on our fieldwork with foie gras producers in the United States and France, this paper examines the relations among social, technical and nonhuman animal worlds in foie gras production. Expanding Mauss's classic conception of “techniques of the body” to include techniques that link animal and human bodies, we consider insights from science studies scholars like Haraway, Latour and Goodman. Posing the question of whether foie gras is natural or pathological, we juxtapose those who view foie gras production as the apotheosis of murderous meat production, and those who consider it to be a co-production between humans and animals, one that needs to be guided by an “ethics of care.” Inspired in part by Temple Grandin's concept of humane slaughter, this ethics of care necessarily considers the wellbeing of animal and human co-producers, along with food safety and quality, as equally important foci for examining animal food production.

Keywords:

• foie gras
• animal ethics
• human-animal relations
• meat