News that many top-notch Chicago chefs are pulling Chilean sea bass — the fish formerly known as the Patagonian toothfish — from their menus because it is threatened with extinction sent the Tempo Subcommittee on Politically Correct Dining in search of other foods any socially conscious gourmet should avoid.
Chocolate: Child-labor issues in the cocoa fields of Africa and elsewhere make munching chocolate — put that bunny down, now! — a not-so-sweet pastime.
Beluga caviar: Pollution and overfishing are playing havoc with the sturgeon of the Caspian Sea. So caviar emptor on those little black eggs.
Coffee: If it’s not shade-grown then a forest somewhere may have died for your caffeine habit.
Foie gras: Think of all those force-fed geese.
Shrimp: An Asian mangrove forest has probably been destroyed to bring you your farm-raised shrimp.
Veal: And spare a thought for all the calves spending the last months of their teeny lives in little crates.
Shark fin: The much-feared shark is in decline because fishermen catch them, cut off their fins while they are still alive, and then toss them back to die agonizing deaths. Sharks, like sea bass, reproduce very slowly.
Pork: Hold your nose when you order it — and remember all the smelly “manure lagoons” created by giant corporate hog farms.
West Coast salmon: Endangered because of overfishing.
So what’s left? Is there any animal so abundant that eating it would be environmentally appropriate.
Yes. There is such a dish. Why didn’t we think of it before?
Venison.
