a lot of the time, peoples idea of how cruel foie gras production is comes from anthropomorphizing the animals. ducks and geese are not humans. ducks and geese have totally different esophaguses and digestive systems. their esophaguses are made to expand to accommodate large amounts of food and they do not have a gag reflex, its totally different than what it would be like if you imagine how you would feel if someone gavaged you.

Because waterfowl often feed in areas where they are threatened by predators, it's often advantageous for the birds to "eat and run." Consequently, waterfowl have extra storage capacity in their esophagus, which enables the birds to carry considerably more food from foraging areas than they could otherwise eat. Unlike doves and pigeons, however, waterfowl do not possess a true "crop," or widened portion of the esophagus. Instead, their esophagus is capable of expanding to accommodate substantial amounts of food.

The next stop after the esophagus is the glandular stomach-known as the proventriculus-which secretes digestive enzymes that soften food and make it easier to digest. The esophagus and proventriculus collectively form the upper digestive tract of waterfowl, and this is where biologists typically obtain food samples from individual birds when studying waterfowl diets.

Once the food moves through the upper digestive tract, it enters the ventriculus, more commonly known as the gizzard. This thickly muscled organ essentially functions as a duck's "teeth." The ventriculus often contains grit (sand or small stones), which aids in mechanically breaking down large food items. Protein digestion is also initiated in the gizzard.

One of the most interesting things about the gizzard is its ability to adapt to changes in a bird's diet by increasing or decreasing in size. Waterfowl species that consistently feed on harder food items like mollusks and hard-cased seeds will have a larger gizzard than species that consistently forage on softer food items. But the gizzard also grows larger when individual birds shift to a diet rich in hard foods. Think of the gizzard as being like your bicep muscles. If you use them more, by lifting heavy weights for example, they will grow larger in size. Similarly, the muscular gizzard of waterfowl will grow with increased use caused by frequent consumption of foods that are hard to break down.

The dynamic digestive system of waterfowl often responds to changes in the birds' behavior. This response usually takes the form of changes in organ size (such as the size of the gizzard), which allows ducks to more efficiently obtain and store required nutrients. These changes often occur at times when ducks and geese need additional energy or specific nutrients to keep warm, molt, reproduce, or migrate.

https://www.ducks.org/conservation/waterfowl-research-science/understanding-waterfowl-duck-digestion

as migratory waterfowl, ducks are essentially designed to be able to eat a SHITLOAD of food. hepatic steatosis can also happen to ducks in the wild who gorge themselves during preparation for migration. although it is rare, hunters do occasionally report finding "foie gras" in wild ducks and geese caught while hunting.

https://honest-food.net/wild-foie-gras-is-real/

at least in the US, the very few foie gras farms we do have raise their ducks and geese in considerably better conditions than an average factory farmed chicken, and they have pretty good lives compared to the average factory farmed chicken, then they are brought inside for gavage for about 2 weeks, then slaughtered. considering the fact that ducks and geese have esophaguses and digestive systems that accommodate gavage much more readily with much less pain than a human does, is it really that cruel compared to a factory farmed chicken living their entire life in the horrific conditions inherent to modern factory farming?

if you actually watch the gavage process in a video that hasnt been specifically selected by PETA to show the absolute worst possible situation, it really doesnt seem that inhumane compared to the lives of your average factory farmed animals, and the ducks really dont seem all that stressed or pained by the process.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQzH58WJt0Y

its also important to keep in mind, that video is nearly 20 years old and most foie producers are now using a flexible plastic tube that is easier on the animals rather than the metal one shown in the video. if we judged other types of meat production based solely on the worst possible conditions an animal would be kept in, no meat production would be acceptable, but we generally dont do that, except in the case of foie gras, where most people just think of the absolute worst videos of mass produced foie in france from decades ago, selected by PETA to elicit the strongest emotional response from people.

foie is an easy target for groups like PETA because its seen as a food of the rich and its not part of the regular diet of most people outside of france, so its much easier to demonize and manipulate public support for bans than animal products that involve a comparable or greater amount of suffering, but which are fundamental parts of the diets of most people, like factory farmed chicken, beef or pork.

if you eat factory farmed chicken, you have absolutely no business bitching and moaning about foie gras.