The True Cost of Luxury: How These Gourmet Ingredients are Sourced

Many people would pay a high price for gourmet food. What people don’t know is that animals are being abused in order to harvest some of those gourmet ingredients. Here’s some examples of food you should avoid if you are against animal abuse:

1. Foie Gras
Made of fattened duck or goose liver, foie gras is one of the most controversial food that has been a topic of interest of many animal rights groups. The making of foie gras involves force-feeding ducks or geese by ramming a pipe down a duck or goose throat and pumping high amount of grain and fat into their stomachs. Foie gras is usually served in gourmet fine-dining restaurants and is very expensive.

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2. Kopi Luwak
Kopi luwak or luwak coffee in English (or also known as civet coffee) is a type of coffee that consists of partially digested coffee cherries by a civet or to make it simpler to understand; It’s made of civet dung. Kopi luwak is one of the most expensive kinds of coffee in the world. The reason for this is that chemicals in civet stomachs remove the acidity of the coffee, making it smoother and less acidic. Due to an increase in popularity of kopi luwak, the production is far from natural nowadays. The civets are mostly caged in small, unsanitary cages and are forced to eat a lot of coffee cherries each day to fulfill demand. They also become tourist attractions in Bali where tourist can visit the plantation and take pictures of the caged civets.

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Picking coffee beans out of civet cat feces isn’t just gross — it’s cruel. Tap the link in our profile to learn more: http://peta.vg/2x5m

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3. Shark Fin
Shark fin is very commonly used in Chinese delicacies such as shark fin soup. The process of harvesting shark fins, involves catching a shark, cutting its fins and throwing the rest of body back to the sea while the shark is still alive. With its fins cut, a shark will not be able to swim and will end up drowning and die. Moreover, sharks are some of the endangered species that are crucial in maintaining a healthy food chain in the ocean. Although has been highly advocated against, shark fin is still fairly popular and is one of the most expensive food with a price as high as $400 per kilograms.

We can’t even begin to fathom the pain inflicted on these animals. Whether you can afford it or not, it will be the right thing to do to avoid eating them at all to support animal rights.