A new law went into effect this week banning the use of foie gras in California. Gourmet restaurants across the state are in a tizzy. California customers have been gorging for the past month on foie gras in special “farewell dinners” hosted by some of California’s biggest chefs. People want their foie gras, but many are conflicted about the cruel practice of creating this delicious product.
The debate stems from the way foie gras is made. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the dish, foie gras is fattened liver harvested from geese and ducks. The birds are unnaturally fattened by force-feeding them daily through funnel-like tubes. The process leads to the livers becoming unnaturally enlarged, fatter, and ultimately more tasty.
Most people don’t realize that foie gras has a Jewish history. Cato the Elder mentioned the technique of fattening geese in his book, “On Farming.” The Romans used Jewish slaves to fatten their geese by force-feeding. The method was eventually adopted by the Jews. Because of the kosher law banning the mixture of milk and meat, as well as the ban on pork and pork fat, poultry fat (schmaltz) became a staple of the Jewish diet. The process of fattening the livers of geese helped to produce more usable cooking fat. Jews continued the practice for several centuries in the various European communities where they settled.
The new California foie gras law is already being challenged. Yesterday, a Canadian exporter and a Southern California restauranteur both filed suit to invalidate the law. They claim the law is written vaguely and violates the U.S. Constitution’s commerce clause. This, in addition to hundreds of restaurants and thousands of customers who are bemoaning the loss of a beloved gourmet delicacy.
Though foie gras is indeed a tasty treat, I tend to fall on the side of the animal’s rights here. Force feeding seems unnatural and unkind. While it’s only one of many animal cruelties in our American agricultural system, I believe that we must begin to take proactive steps to protect animal welfare. That said, I’m not sure if banning foie gras is the answer. Even better, I think, would be to make a fundamental change in how foie gras is raised and harvested. Foie gras can be made in a more humane, natural, sustainable way. Don’t believe me? Check out this TED video featuring Chef Dan Barber, discussing a farm in Spain where foie gras is made naturally.
I do look forward to trying farmer Eduardo Sousa’s foie gras someday, and I hope that other small farmers will follow his example by putting the welfare of the animals first. Meanwhile, I certainly don’t mind living without foie gras. Tell me you’re banning sourdough bread, and we’re going to have a problem. Foie gras? It’s a small sacrifice.
What do you think? Do you believe gavage is cruel? Is banning foie gras the answer? Should we be encouraging farmers to adopt more sensitive and sustainable animal husbandry? Do you think banning foie gras is nonsense? Does this amount to a minor drop in the bucket in a much bigger agricultural problem? Or are you a fan of foie gras, willing to eat it no matter the cost?
The thing that enraged me about the debate agaisnt fois gras, is that it isn’t a big production compared to the north american meat industry. Yes in certain cases it is a quite savage process, but all of you people eat meat coming from supermarkets, where animals are also treated like objects which are purely there for the American luxury standards, where people eat considerable amount of meat every day.
So its great to fight against fois gras, but it also shows that your priorities are not set properly. Because you should be more concerned at the beef, chicken and proc industries that produce much much more meat than fois gras. All in a terrible environment for the animals.
To get rid of the industrial meat system, we would have to reduce our meat intake, why not keep meat for week ends? Once or twice a week. Then we wouldn’t need to produce so much meat, and we could do it in a more ethical way towards the animals.
Yes, it should be ILLEGAL! More animal cruelty coming from mental defective humans.
If you think a goose being force-fed huge amounts of food to fatten their liver’s is a good thing, just so some elite human enjoys the taste, I hope you get liver disease and see if it is “painless”.
Tori, you’re a lovely woman, adorable. It’s time to end the animal cruelty!
God bless you
I think the practice of forcefeeding geese/ducks is cruel and unnatural. It’s a small sacrifice for foie gras lovers to give it up and take a stand to stop the cruelty. Peoples views on this subject are usually aligned with their desires, viewpoints, and not wanting to know the truth. To deny that these sentient beings aren’t suffering is ridiculous. I look forward to the day when human beings wake up and evolve into caring, sensitive, intuitive, loving beings. Cruelty won’t be an issue. Have you ever wondered who are the people doing this to animals? Sometimes it’s necessary to look at what’s best for the greater good, not just for self.
How can anyone be okay with force feeding any kind of animal? They are smart enough to eat on their own and do not need a tube shoved down their throat four times a day!! My dog doesn’t always want to eat and I would never force feed her… As I’m sure a good parent would never do to their child!! The videos of the birds cowering from the people coming to force feed them should tell people something… They are not enjoying it at all! They can’t speak for themselves, just as no animal can and it’s up to us to have a voice for them. If they could eat on their own and not have to be force feed I would have no problem with foie gras. But then again it is not normal to make any species have an organ 10 times the size it should be!! Have some compassion for animals people!!
I am not well versed enough to know for sure whether the geese are inhumanely treated. I believed they were before reading some of the comments here. Now I see I would need to learn more. I definitely am against any cruelty to living creatures of any sort. Based on the ways that many animals are treated, it would seem that some folks have no feelings. Very sad.
Have you read what Claudia Roden (in the Book of Jewish Food) writes about the Jewish foie gras producers from the Alsace-Lorraine region in France? It gives a much different perspective on the ancient process of “force feeding.”
Thank G-d I don’t live in the nanny state of Kalifornia. This feel-good law does nothing to protect the geese or ducks from which Foie Gras is made. That said, I disagree with you about how cruel or inhumane the process is. Avian anatomy and physiology is NOT the same as in humans. To try to equate how a human would feel if they were force fed in the same manner is utter nonsense; a definite apples/oranges thing.
Coming from Europe and remembering how my great and grand-parents used to stuff the geese, I never seen a goose complaining or suffering. It’s a practice that is used throughout the world and has yet to be proven as a painful and torturous procedure…I hate to burst the bubble that some of us live in , but none of the meats are really from happy cows, flying pigs or poker playing chickens who died of natural causes..I love my food and know where it comes from and therefor I am …Shalom
I was never a fan of any form of liver as a kid or now. Once in a blue moon I will get a very small container (they call it a bissell at Russ & Daughters in NYC), enough for a few bites on a cracker…..hated liver growing up but had to eat it or else no dinner for me that night….then I’ve tried Foie Gras a couple of times in NYC restaurants….never really cared for it….nor saw what the big deal was about. The method is barbaric and should be outlawed to protect the geese. Really…I think people can do without it….it’s far from a staple one must consume. I don’t get the attraction…..it really tastes like slime.