Do You Like French Food?
November 2nd, 2009
These days there are more and more people becoming vocal about their food, what they eat, where their food comes from, etc. Haven’t you heard the term “ignorance is bliss?” When it comes to this subject of food, I sometimes wish I didn’t know as much as I do. On the flip side, I hope, the more I know the better off I will be in the long run, if I use that information properly. Case in point……
I am from New Orleans and always loved French food. I recently visited a French Restaurant and their “specialty” is Foie Gras. I asked a lot of questions about this food because I really did not know all of the details. Once I was informed I came home, did some research, and thought, “This is something I would like to write about.” Do you sometimes eat food because it is called a delicacy or because it’s expensive? Do you know what you are really eating or where it came from? Do you care?
Translated literally from French as “fatty liver” and pronounced ‘fwah grah’. It is made from the grotesquely enlarged livers of male ducks and geese that are also diseased livers. When you think about it, who would want to eat a diseased liver anyway? At just a few months old, ducks are confined inside dark sheds and force-fed enormous amounts of food several times a day. The ducks and geese are held, one-by-one, and a metal pipe is forced down their throats so the food is force fed directly into their bodies. This happens to them every 3-4 hours everyday. The pipes puncture many birds’ throats, sometimes causing the animals to bleed to death. Many become so sick they die. In a matter of weeks these animals are extremely overweight and their livers are 10 times the size they should be. The birds who survive the force-feeding are killed, and their livers are sold for foie gras. Although widely condemned, it’s also widely consumed, not only in the heartland of France, where they LOVE this food, but in many other countries too. Here is a video for you to see.
Banning any food, especially “luxury” food, has been a challenging issue for chefs, who generally defend their right to use whatever they want. It usually has to do with the demand and price these items command. These are not the only animals that are treated in such harsh ways. There are many issues around the treatment of all kinds of animals.
There are also a number of well known people who are doing their part to bring these types of subjects to the general population. One such person, who is also a well known chef, is Wolfgang Puck. As part of a new initiative to fight animal cruelty, Puck said he will no longer serve foie gras. In his fine-dining restaurants, eateries and catering venues he will use only eggs from hens that have lived cage-free; veal from roaming calves; and lobsters that have been removed from their ocean traps quickly to avoid crowded holding tanks. “We want a better standard for living creatures. It’s as simple as that,” Puck said. He believes the best-tasting food comes from animals that have been treated humanely. 
The campaign to stop its sale is gathering growing more and more support.
Even people like Roger Moore (A.K.A. James Bond) and Bea Arthur are opposed of the treatment of the ducks and geese, as well as the industry as a whole for allowing the sale of foie gras. See the video from Roger Moore.
Many chefs at high-end restaurants, some smaller food-service chains and grocery chains like Whole Foods have refused to buy meat and eggs unless animals were raised under certain conditions. They also are aware that Americans are becoming more health conscious about what they eat. In 2000, McDonald’s became the first major American food company to impose minimum animal-welfare standards such as increasing cage size on its egg producers. California has decided to ban the production and sale of foie gras starting in 2012. Chicago imposed a ban last year, and bans are being promoted in Illinois, New Jersey and New York.
To stop this act people will need to stop consuming this food and ask chefs to stop serving the dish. If you have thoughts, stories, information, etc. please share it so other people will know your thoughts. This is what I found in my search for the real answers behind the question, “What is Foie Gras?” What do you have to say?
As long a people continue to order it, chefs will serve it. It is up to each one of us to speak up and tell the restaurants that this animal cruelty is unacceptable.
Do you eat chicken ? Have you ever visited a poultry farm in USA or Brazil ?
Do you eat pig ? Have you ever visited a swine industrial farm in Mexico ?
I’m French and grew-up where the Fois Gras comes from. For sure, many people here prepare and eat Foie Gras. Though they are very nice people. Never made war or things like that. Like animals also.
The way we (humans) produce animal proteins today, may it be for luxuary products such as Foie Gras or for billions of hamburgers does not take into account animals well being, except if it results in making them smaller or less fatty or less weighty.
It is an endless fight and at the end may finsish by asking people not to eat animal proteins.
Have you read Darwin ? Life on earth may all come from one unique cell called the Last Unique Common Ancestor ?
Francois: I appreciate your post. I think that people all over the world are becoming more aware of our connections to animals. Part of that has to do with the way we treat the animals we consume. The more people, like yourself, educate people the better. Please keep up the great work!
“While California’s Governator has already signed a bill that will make it illegal to produce or sell foie gras as of 2012, San Francisco’s getting ahead of the curve with the passage of a resolution that supports restaurants that voluntarily remove foie gras from their menus.”