I just learned of this. I don't want to unduly harm poor geese, but foie gras is part of the French cultural heritage, and I cannot believe this ban really went into effect. What's next? A ban of sugary sodas? Time to move to Canada.

we had a foie gras ban here in chicago... it didn't last.
http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/ ... -gras-ban/

and that was... holy shit! four years ago?! i remember it being stupid when it went into effect, because restaurants wouldn't "sell" it,
but you could still ask for it. (eg. there is a restaurant that makes a kobe burger with foie gras on the top, so you'd order the burger,
and they would add the foie "free of charge" if you asked for it. the burger was $20 before the ban, and remained $20 during the ban.)

this should definitely be banned !!!!!!!

you just need bread, salt and wine ! or gingerbread instead of bread...anything else is pure heresy

Legislating morality.

jl, technically, i think it was a foie gras paté... were it traditional foie, i'd be in complete agreement with you.

I don't eat foie gras but I thinks it's a pretty silly law.

It's a 'feel better' law.
People who want all meat banned but know they have NO chance against a company like Tyson or Perdue can feel like they've accomplished something. The conditions on most foie farms are exponentially better than a super producer of poultry, but.... you get the WIN in your column when this ban goes through.

There's an excellent book called "the Foie Gras wars" that has a rundown on the Chicago ban, various terrorist activities against restaurants that serve foie, etc. Worth the read.

On July 1, I hosted "foie gras day"- where friends all over the world got together and ate foie to say "California can stuff it" (we thought we were being clever)

I personally had three different kinds. then went to the gym for two hours

I heard you can still get Foie Gras in California if it is for medical purposes.

LOL... i can just imagine the guys on venice beach now: "Dr. Chef is IN! Dr. Chef is IN!"

There are several loopholes including bringing your own and charging a Foie Gras "corkage" fee, because they aren't banned from using it...just selling it.

California Democratic Chair John Burton was the sponsor of this law. On a recent radio show he openly said "I know nothing about foie gras" and made that amply clear in further comments and responses. He appears to be uninterested in learning about methods of harvesting the product that are considered more humane than funnel-feeding. A case of adamant denial and willful ignorance. It really appears to be a "for show" law intended to appeal to uninformed emotion over legitimate consideration. There's also a bit of class resentment at play here IMHO; many perceive foie to be a luxury food of the idle rich ... there may be a bit of truth to that but on the other hand California is one of the world's hotspots for fine dining and food in general, at every economic level. Crazy mixed up politics got in the way of reason, here.

The hypocrisy around this thing is phenomenal given the cruel facts of factory farming on a much larger scale re: beef, poultry, and pork.

word.

i'll have an opinion when they get around to banning the burger it's on...there's no difference at all.

what happened to that attempt to ban pet shops last year?

Foie Gras is one of my top favorite foods.
The price has gone down significantly in PA since we've got more artisan farmers producing it than we had in the past. As someone who was raised on a farm and who loves meat... I still get why foie makes people uncomfortable. Vegans/animal rights activists probably won't be able to get Average Joe to give up chicken nuggets... but when you show them the ducks with a feeding tube... it can be pretty visceral.

Does the goose/duck esophagus stretch to accommodate swallowing fish? Sure.
Does the duck gorge itself before winter to fatten up? of course.

But those pictures man. They're worth 1000 votes.

Artisan producers in the US tend to be much more ethical than producers in France; in America, the ducks and geese just wander (waddle) around with other fowl and get fed and live an ok duck life until it's time to slaughter them. No battery cages, no overcrowding. Almost every part of the duck/goose is used after slaughter; the skin, the bones, the meat. Even the feathers get used.

In france where foie isn't as big of a deal (a friend of mine is visiting now and took pics of foie in a convenience store/gas station) and animal rights activists don't get as much media attention the treatment is much less pastoral.

So is it ethical?
As ethical as the slaughter of any animal, I guess. Since my family made it's living raising cattle, Im very skewed.

I wouldn't even say you're skewed or biased, just informed.

I've never eaten foie gras and have never really had any desire to (though I'm sure it's delicious). With that being said, I find it upsetting that blatantly ignorant shit like this actually happens. It's so backwards and ridiculous. Is veal next?

I wouldn't be surprised of the foie ban is used as leverage to make that happen.

Is it bad that this thread made me hungry?

It's good that this thread made you hungry.
I have Foie Gras torchon poutine with veal gravy the other day.... hope that helps.

I find that things that make vegans sick and want to rant always make me hungry.
If I could, I'd probably eat vegans because I find them to be lower on the food chain.

i want to come over and eat at your house.

I would say they're not fatty enough, but the Philly Style Vegan is usually all about protest and not about nutrition. As such, the all french fries and pasta diet....

Don't even get me started on the black truffle sausages I made with lardo replacing fat...

Finally.

If people want to get outraged at the food industry, they need to vent at companies like DuPont for pushing patented, genetically modified crops that are 100% reliant on their products (seeds & chemicals).

That was how every vegetarian/vegan that I knew growing up was like.
They all had the most horrible unhealthy diets, while shouting about how bad the meat (or eggs etc) I was eating was for me.
I'm all for people being able to live the way they want to, but I hate when they try to push that onto me.

are you married? do you want to be? lardo is one of the most amazing things in the world ad far as I'm concerned. I may need that recipe from you...