WARNING: This article contains images which some readers may find distressing
A restaurant in London has received criticism for serving a dish of ‘stuffed duck neck’ which looks exactly how you might think it does.
It's the head of a duck – eyes and all – still attached to the neck, which appears to have been tied up at the bottom with a bit of string.
It’s fairly graphic, but – then again – so is the meat industry in general.
The dish was being served at Westerns Laundry in Highbury for £18 per go, and some people have been left horrified by it.
The restaurant describes itself online as a ‘seafood restaurant [and] covered courtyard championing regenerative producers & low intervention cellar’.
Obviously, there is a wider point to be made here.
The old adage states that everyone wants to eat a sausage, but nobody wants to see how they get made.
The same is true of all the meat that we eat. Behind every rasher of bacon or lovely juicy steak, there is an animal that was slaughtered.
Usually, we’re not confronted so graphically with the consequences of our food habits, but that’s certainly not the case when it comes to this dish.
Whilst people from France will know that stuffed duck neck has been served for years, many on these shores won’t like having to stare the animal that died in the face before eating it.
Explaining their dish, the restaurant said: “We like to honour the lives of the animals we cook with by using all their parts.
“Too much waste is created in our industry by buying prized cuts and discard the rest of the animal.”
Discussing the dish on Good Morning Britain today, musician Tallia Storm said: “I can’t even look at that picture, I think they have no respect for life anymore.
“The thing is you’re not even celebrating the duck; you’re just showing vegetables down its neck.”
Chef Neil Rankin disagreed, stating: “If you find it difficult to eat something knowing what it is, you shouldn’t be eating it at all.”
Well, some online are clearly keen for it, with one commenting: “Yum”.
Another added: “A Gascon [a person from the French area of Gascony] favourite.”
However, others aren’t so keen to get stuck in.
One person said: “No, that’s too much.”
Another person tweeted: “I find this dish reminds me of all the suffering inflicted on animals by me and all humans in the name of ‘fashion’.
“I try my hardest to avoid meat. Maybe this has finally convinced me to not even eat on a Sunday.”
Well, if you’ve been moved to try this rarest of delicacies, you can head on down to Westerns Laundry and get your hands on the stuffed duck neck with turnips and lentils for £18.
Whether you do or don’t, if you’re repulsed by it you should probably re-evaluate the way you think about the meat that you eat, if you haven’t already.
Topics: UK News, Weird, Food And Drink, Animals
Tom Wood