"I prefer chefs...with a well-developed funny bone,
so I got a real kick out of the extra ‘bounce’ chef Thomas
Beres added to his menu at Atlas in Manhattan this week in honor of
Leap Year." Thus begins a column last month by Pascale Le Draoulec,
a food writer for the Gannet-owned Journal News, the paper of record
for Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties in New York. Chef Beres,
writes Le Draoulec, "is serving leapin’ dishes like sautéed
frog legs, roasted loin of rabbit with carrot risotto, grilled kangaroo
minute steak with Hoppin’ John and lobster spring rolls (get it?).
For dessert? Grasshopper pie."
Le Draoulec listed her phone number at the Journal News near the end
of her column. Having a few minutes to spare, I called Le Draoulec.
I introduced myself as a Journal News subscriber, said that I was calling
about her column that mentioned frog legs, and asked if she knew how
frog legs are produced. She didn’t.
"The legs of the frogs are cut off when the frogs are alive,"
I told her. "Then they’re left to bleed to death." I
paused, then asked, "Would you like it if someone cut off your
legs while you were alive so someone could eat them?"
Le Draoulec didn’t answer my question. "I was just trying
to be humorous," she said.
"I don’t know what’s so humorous about cutting the legs
off a living animal, then leaving the animal to hemorrhage to death,
merely so someone can eat his or her flesh," I replied.
Le Draoulec wasn’t particularly interested in discussing the humorous
or unhumorous aspects of slaughtering live animals. Le Draoulec remarked
that she had thought about "food issues" and decided to be
a carnivore. "It’s my choice."
Then Le Draoulec complained that I was "too aggressive" and
"graphic." I asked, "How can I honestly discuss a situation
in which a living being has his or her legs cut off and is allowed to
bleed to death without being graphic?" Again, she didn’t
volunteer a response.
No doubt some readers, like Le Draoulec, feel I was being "too
aggressive" and "graphic." Yet, my frank conversation
with Le Draoulec yielded one tangible result: she said that if she ever
wrote about frog legs again, she would describe how they’re produced.
A small victory.
The vegetarian and nonvegetarian friends with whom I’ve discussed
my conversation with Le Draoulec have frequently asked, "Why aren’t
the frogs killed before their legs are cut off?" "It’s
easier," says John Joseph, a London spokesman for the World Society
for the Protection of Animals, who has witnessed the butchering of live
amphibians in Asia for the frog leg industry. "It’s a matter
of expediency. The frog-cutting stations are located in rural areas.
The workers often have several thousand frogs on hand and they can process
them more quickly that way. They’re paid by the pound." Also,
Joseph says, "There is no suitable method to stun large numbers
of frogs."
Indonesia is the world’s leading supplier of frog legs, heavily
contributing to the estimated 300 million frogs slaughtered worldwide
each year to meet the demands of restaurants like Atlas.
It’s interesting that when challenged about her murderous diet,
the best defense Le Draoulec can summon forth is, "It’s my
choice." Duh. Obviously, it’s her choice. But what about the
frog’s choice? Or the rabbit’s choice? Or the kangaroo’s?
Or the lobster’s? Or the grasshopper’s? Such "choices" are
directly responsible for the suffering and slaughter of billions of
nonhuman animals every year.
Contact: Pascale Le Draoulec, The Journal News, One Gannet Dr., White
Plains, NY 10604; Tel. (914) 694-5054. Le Draoulec can be emailed via
the Journal News website at nyjournalnews.com.
Contact: Chef Thomas Beres, Atlas, 40 Central Park So., New York, NY
10023; Tel. (212) 759-9191.
