The Wall Street Journal reports that chefs and foie gras aficionados in California are counting down the days until Sunday, when the sale of goose liver in the state will be banned.
The ban was enacted seven years ago, with the food industry and consumers given until July 1, 2012 to get used to the idea that they won't be able to get foie gras anymore.
The story notes that animal rights activists were behind the ban: "To achieve the buttery flavor and velvety texture of foie gras ... farmers force-feed ducks and geese (typically a Mulard duck or Toulouse goose) to enlarge their livers, prying open their esophagi and funneling food into them. Activists call such feeding torture ... A cooks' group recently formed the Coalition for Humane and Ethical Farming Standards, or CHEFS, to lobby lawmakers to rescind the ban. Members, like most foie gras farmers, say the feeding doesn't bother ducks and geese because they don't have the gag reflex human beings have; they swallow a fish in one gulp, for example."
The ban was enacted seven years ago, with the food industry and consumers given until July 1, 2012 to get used to the idea that they won't be able to get foie gras anymore.
The story notes that animal rights activists were behind the ban: "To achieve the buttery flavor and velvety texture of foie gras ... farmers force-feed ducks and geese (typically a Mulard duck or Toulouse goose) to enlarge their livers, prying open their esophagi and funneling food into them. Activists call such feeding torture ... A cooks' group recently formed the Coalition for Humane and Ethical Farming Standards, or CHEFS, to lobby lawmakers to rescind the ban. Members, like most foie gras farmers, say the feeding doesn't bother ducks and geese because they don't have the gag reflex human beings have; they swallow a fish in one gulp, for example."
- KC's View:
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I know this makes me a heathen in the eyes of some, but I define the eating of foie gras - or liver of any kind - as torture.
What I'm wondering about is the over/under on when California state officials - who clearly have nothing better to do, because the state is in such great shape - bust a black market foie gras ring smuggling the stuff into Beverly Hills. I see roadblocks and trunk checks on Rodeo Drive ...
(BTW...where does NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg come down on the issue of foie gras? Just curious...)
