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Puffin: 1 Gordon Ramsay: 0

by Kona Gallagher, posted Jul 30th 2008 8:02AM

Gordon RamsayPrickly, acerbic TV chef Gordon Ramsay has probably racked up his share of enemies. However, I doubt that even he would have guessed that the one that would nearly lead to his demise would be the great and powerful ... uh, puffin. That is exactly what happened however, as Ramsay had a very close call while in Iceland shooting scenes for his British series, The F Word.

Ramsay was out hunting puffins when he fell into icy water as he was making a 280 foot descent. His crew threw in a line after he failed to surface after 45 seconds. The experience had Ramsay thinking he was a "goner," saying, "My boots and my waterproofs were dragging me down. I'm an extremely good swimmer, but I couldn't get to the surface. I was panicking and my lungs were filling with water. When I got to the top after getting my boots off I was dazed and my head was totally numb."

Ramsay's fall earned him a gash on his leg, which was treated back at his hotel. But then to add insult to injury, he later had to go to the hospital to receive three stitches from where one of the puffins bit him on the nose. Understandably mortified by having his ass kicked by a little penguin-looking thing, Ramsay says, "I keep saying one of my kids punched me. I'm too embarrassed to say it was a puffin."

I'm glad Ramsay made it out alright, but who knew that people ate puffins? Seriously, that is absolutely mind-boggling to me. Since he sustained his injuries while hunting the little guys, how long do you think it will be before PETA issues an "I told you so" statement?

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tpp

Too bad he didn't get some sort of reverse-tourette type of brain damage from his near drowning.

July 31 2008 at 11:08 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
GL

Opus is fatty and oily, but he might be ok as jerky.

July 30 2008 at 2:41 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Joe stalin

Vegans? You evil evil soul-less monster!
Me-gan is the way to go. Only meat no veggies. They need the opportunity to evolve.

July 30 2008 at 1:48 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Joel Keller

I've eaten puffin. I had it at a restaurant in Reykjavik, in fact. It was tasty. Not sure why people think eating chicken is ok but eating puffin isn't. Is it because they think of Opus from Bloom County?

July 30 2008 at 12:46 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to Joel Keller's comment
nickmagoo

opus is a penguin...

i think hunters often get a bad rap by well meaning but ignorant people. i grew up hunting, and we always ate/used whatever we killed, but tracking down a puffin on a tv show sounds extremely idiotic. ooh look, a flightless bird on a frozen tundra. let's kill it for the camera. what, a seal wasn't around to be clubbed?

July 30 2008 at 2:06 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Brent McKee

Nickmagoo, where did you get the idea that Puffins are flightless. They may look like penguins, but they're actually a member of the Auk family and quite capable of flight.

As far as puffin hunting goes, it's not like going out with a shot gun. The process involves using a net on a pole and trying to catch the birds in the nets - think catching a butterfly except that the butterfly is six to ten feet above your head. Once you catch the bird you break its neck. It's not "tracking down a flightless bird on the frozen tundra either.

July 31 2008 at 3:58 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Azimuth

I applaud vegetarians for taking a moral stand and sticking too it. However, while you may crusade all you like, the majority of humans are omnivores, by choice and by biology. As long as that is the case, we should applaud Ramsay for at least taking a healthy, organic, ethical tack rearing the turkeys (and lambs, and pigs...) that he has and in the process teaching his children the responsibilities we have in rearing animals for food.

Oh, and Tofurkey sucks.

July 30 2008 at 11:19 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Chris Wyant

Reminds me of the time I burned myself hunting bunnies with a bazooka...

July 30 2008 at 9:35 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Chris Wyant's comment
witchyvamp

Chris,

LOL. Best laugh I had all day.

July 30 2008 at 3:54 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
mj green

Gordon, I love you, but hunting is wrong. And PUFFINS?? Who on earth would want to eat one? So, sorry it happened, and I wish you had learned a lesson, but you haven't. Anyone who would raise turkeys at home, make their kids take care of them, and keep telling them we are going to kill them and eat them, isn't going to learn. Vegetarian all the way, folks.

July 30 2008 at 8:59 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to mj green's comment
Franklin

LOL...

Anyone else smell nutcase?

July 30 2008 at 11:16 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
deanj

People that hate plants so much they need to destroy them by eating them really tick me off.

July 30 2008 at 11:38 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

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