A writer for the Village Voice investigates the “Is foie gras torture?” question by traveling to Hudson Valley Foie Gras in New York, the nation’s largest producer. What she concludes after observing the birds is that it’s not nearly as bad as some of the images from animal rights and welfare groups suggest. (Many of these images, she suggests, come from large industrial producers in Europe or other poorly managed farms.)

Based on the evidence she provides, I don’t exactly disagree with the author’s conclusion (“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.”). On the other hand, these birds aren’t exactly “free range.” They’re confined indoors, and further confined during the force-feeding process. “Humane” is a matter of degree. Seems easier to me just to avoid it altogether.