Instagram Is In An Uproar Over Martha Stewart's Controversial Treat
Due to the homey nature of Martha Stewart's brand, it is easy to forget the luxuries that come to her as a nice holiday surprise. Yesterday, she shared on Instagram some food products that she was enjoying, as well as a new Martha Stewart branded wine that will hit shelves soon. "Plain food or Plane food!!! A treat for fellow travelers after a rather challenging year," she wrote next to pictures of ROE Caviar, foie gras sourced from Daniel Boulud's farm, Melba brioche made by Balthazar Bakery, and Martha's Chard, her new wine produced with 19 Crimes.
Commenters noted the bougie nature of the dishes with exasperation over how unrelatable they were, but pretty much all the attention paid to the post latched onto one particular food: foie gras. "Animal abuse on a plate," one commenter wrote. Another voiced their disapproval with "Do better Martha......" A third attempted a compromise: "All lovely except for the foie gras....horrible how that is obtained."
However, not everyone was so aghast with the food on Martha Stewart's plate. As one person so succinctly put it "Martha does not GAF about you vegetarians." And again, others clung to the aspirational image of such luxury: "I would love to eat fancy and try caviar, just once." But the internet is the internet, so outrage drowns all the mute smiles of emojis and generic exclamations of "yum."
The problems with foie gras
"Wow. This post proved polarizing," one person commented, noting the extreme reactions that Martha Stewart's pictured food provoked.
Part of the polarization could be due to how much Stewart's identity is based around things you could do with the resources already in your home. Yet, her post exclusively promoted foods that most could only afford as a splurged holiday treat.
That said, the most articulated grievance was definitely the foie gras. The issue, as CNN explained while reporting on New York City's decision to ban the food in 2019, is that the food is made by force-feeding ducks and geese so that their livers reach the right level of fattiness. For many, this represents a level of animal abuse analogous to breeding chickens that can't support their own body weight.
However, a solution may be coming in the form of lab-grown foie gras. As The New York Times wrote in July, a Paris-based start up called Gourmey has decided to tackle the issue of lab-grown foie gras so that people can enjoy its decadent textures without feeling ethically compromised. Maybe one day Martha Stewart can promote this type of foie gras instead.