Scallops have feelings too

RESTAURANT reviewer, Joanna Blythman claims that she cares about how animals are treated, although this is not demonstrated by the foods she often chooses to consume. In her latest restaurant review, she writes, regarding the scallops that she chooses to eat, “scallops are treated with the respect they deserve”. (Sunday Herald Life magazine, June 10). Really?

Scallops are sometimes cooked alive and yes, crustaceans, just like other animals, including fish, do feel pain. Perhaps Blythman would care to read Fish Have Feelings, subtitled, The Inner Lives Of Our Underwater Cousins by Jonathan Balcombe, who is director of animal sentience for the Humane Institute for Science and Policy and/or Do Fish Feel Pain?, by Dr Victoria Braithwaite.

Both books have won high praise with Chris Palmer, for example, describing “Fish Have Feelings” as “the best book on fish I have ever read”.

She could also read a lot about how crustacean/fish suffer on the PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) website, which includes a link to a video clip of actor Joaquin Phoenix which provides food for thought.

Given that Blythman has even been known to eat foie gras, produced when helpless birds (usually ducks and geese) are force-fed until their livers expand to the point when they sometimes burst, perhaps she may not concern herself with “mere” crustaceans even if they do feel pain.

However, to describe scallops as being “treated with the respect they deserve” shows signs that she is mincing her words, displaying the “Humpty Dumpty Syndrome” that Ron McKay described in his piece “Mind your language” the previous week (June 3).

Sandra Busell Edinburgh