Foie gras

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Foie gras [fwɑ gʁɑ] (French for "fat liver") is "the liver of a duck or a goose that has been specially fattened by gavage" (as defined by French law^[1]).

Foie gras is one of the most popular delicacies in French cuisine and its flavour is described as rich, buttery, and delicate, unlike that of a regular duck or goose liver. Foie gras can be sold whole, or prepared into pâté, mousse, or parfait, and is typically served as an accompaniment to another comestible, such as toast or steak.

The technique of gavage dates as far back as 2500 BC, when the ancient Egyptians began keeping birds for food and deliberately fattened the birds through force-feeding. Today, France is by far the largest producer and consumer of foie gras, though it is produced and consumed worldwide, particularly in other European nations and the United States.

In modern foie gras production, force feeding takes place from 12−18 days before slaughter. The duck or goose is typically fed a controlled amount of corn mash through a tube placed in the animal's esophagus. Due to this force feeding procedure, and the possible health consequences of an enlarged liver, animal rights and welfare organizations and activists regard foie gras production methods as cruel to animals. Foie gras producers maintain that force feeding ducks and geese is not uncomfortable for the animals nor is it hazardous to their health. Scientific evidence regarding the animal welfare aspects of foie gras production is limited^[2] and inconclusive^[3]. A number of countries and other jurisdictions have laws against force feeding or the sale of foie gras due to how it is produced.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Ancient times 1.2 Postclassical Europe 2 Main producers 3 Production methods 3.1 Physiology and preparation 3.2 Fattening 4 Presentation 5 Consumption 6 Controversy 6.1 Animal rights and welfare groups 6.2 EU Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Welfare 6.3 American Veterinary Medical Association 6.4 Third-party opinions on US produced foie gras 6.5 Foie gras producers and industry groups 7 Litigation 8 Legal status 8.1 Europe 8.2 United States 8.3 Elsewhere in the world 9 References 10 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Ancient times

As early as 2500 BCE, the ancient Egyptians learned that many birds could be fattened through overfeeding and began the practice of fattening geese by overfeeding them. Whether they particularly sought the fattened livers of migratory birds as a delicacy remains undetermined.^[4][5] In the necropolis of Saqqara, in the tomb of Mereruka, an important royal official, there is a bas relief scene wherein slaves grasp geese around the necks; in order to push food down their throats. At the side stand tables piled with more food pellets, probably roasted grain, and a flask for moistening the feed before giving it to the geese.^[6][5][7]

The practice of geese-fattening spread from Egypt to the Mediterranean.^[8] The earliest reference to fattened geese is from the 5th century BCE Greek poet Cratinus, who wrote of geese-fatteners, yet Egypt maintained its reputation as the source for fattened geese. When the Spartan king Agesilaus visited Egypt in 361 BCE, he was greeted with fattened geese and calves, the riches of Egyptian farmers.^[9][5]

It was not until the Roman period, however, that foie gras is mentioned as a distinct food, which the Romans named iecur ficatum^[10][11][12]; iecur means liver^[13] and ficatum derives from ficus, meaning fig in Latin.^[14] Pliny the Elder (1st century AD) credits his contemporary, Roman gastronome Marcus Gavius Apicius, with feeding dried figs to geese in order to enlarge their livers:

"Apicius made the discovery, that we may employ the same artificial method of increasing the size of the liver of the sow, as of that of the goose; it consists in cramming them with dried figs, and when they are fat enough, they are drenched with wine mixed with honey, and immediately killed."

– Pliny the Elder, Natural History, Book VIII. Chapter 77^[15]

Hence, the term iecur ficatum, fig-stuffed liver; feeding figs to enlarge a goose's liver may derive from Hellenistic Alexandria, since much of Roman luxury cuisine is of Greek inspiration.^[16] Ficatum was closely associated with animal liver and it became the root word for "liver"^[17] in each of these languages: foie in French,^[18] hígado in Spanish, fígado in Portuguese, fegato in Italian and ficat in Romanian, all meaning "liver"; this etymology has been explained in different manners.^[19][20] The emperor Heliogabalus fed his dogs on foie gras during the four years of his chaotic reign.^[21]

[edit] Postclassical Europe

After the fall of the Roman empire, goose liver temporarily vanished from European cuisine. While it is claimed that Gallic farmers preserved the foie gras tradition until the rest of Europe rediscovered it centuries later, this theory lacks evidence, since the medieval French peasant's meats were mainly pig and sheep.^[22] More likely, the tradition was preserved by the Jews, who learned the method of enlarging a goose's liver during the Roman colonisation of Israel,^[23] or even earlier, under slavery in ancient Egypt.^[24] The Jews carried this culinary knowledge as they migrated farther north and west to Europe.^[23]

The Judaic dietary law, Kashrut, forbade lard as a cooking medium, and butter, too, was proscribed as an alternative since it also prohibited mixing meat and dairy products.^[8] Jewish cuisine used olive oil in the Mediterranean, and sesame oil in Babylonia, but neither cooking medium was easily available in Western and Central Europe, so poultry fat, which could be abundantly produced by overfeeding geese, was substituted in their stead.^[23][25] The delicate taste of the goose's liver soon was appreciated; witnessed by Hans Wilhelm Kirchhof of Kassel, who in 1562 wrote that the Jews raise fat geese and particularly love their livers. Some Rabbis were concerned with the kashrut dietary complications consequent to overfeeding geese, because Jewish law prohibits eating a treyf animal. The chasam sofer, Rabbi Moses Sofer, contended that it is not a treyf animal as none of its limbs is damaged. This matter remained a debated topic in Jewish dietary law until the Jewish taste for goose liver declined in the 19th century.^[23] Another kashrut matter, still a problem today, is that even properly slaughtered and inspected meat must be drained of blood before being considered fit to eat. Usually, salting achieves that; however, as liver is regarded as "(almost) wholly blood", broiling is the only way of kashering. Properly broiling a foie gras while preserving its delicate taste is an arduous endeavour few engage seriously.

Gentile gastronomes began appreciating fattened goose liver, which they could buy in the local Jewish ghetto of their cities. In 1570, Bartolomeo Scappi, chef de cuisine to Pope Pius V, published his cookbook Opera, wherein he describes that "the liver of [a] domestic goose raised by the Jews is of extreme size and weighs [between] two and three pounds."^[26] In 1581, Marx Rumpolt of Mainz, chef to several German nobles, published the massive cookbook Kochbuch, describing that the Jews of Bohemia produced livers weighing more than three pounds; he lists recipes for it—including one for goose liver mousse.^[26][27] János Keszei, chef to the court of Michael Apafi, the prince of Transylvania, included foie gras recipes in his 1680 cookbook A New Book About Cooking, instructing cooks to "envelop the goose liver in a calf's thin skin, bake it and prepare [a] green or [a] brown sauce to accompany it. I used goose liver fattened by Bohemian Jews, its weight was more than three pounds. You may also prepare a mush of it."

[edit] Main producers

Country	Production (tons, 2005)	% of total
France	18,450[28]	78.5%
Hungary	1,920[28]	8.2%
Bulgaria	1,500[28]	6.4%
United States	340 (2003)[29]	1.4%
China	150[28]	0.6%
Others	1,140	4.9%
Total	23,500[28]	100%

France is the leading producer and consumer of duck and goose foie gras. In 2005, the country produced 18,450 tonnes of foie gras (78.5% of the world's estimated total production of 23,500 tonnes) of which 96% was duck liver and the rest goose liver. Total French consumption of foie gras was 19,000 tonnes in 2005.^[28] Approximately 30,000 people are members of the French foie gras industry, with 90% of them residing in the Périgord (Dordogne), the Midi-Pyrénées régions in the southwest, and (Alsace). The European Union recognizes the foie gras produced according to traditional farming methods (label rouge) in southwestern France with a geographical indication of provenance.

Hungary is the world's second-greatest foie gras producer and the largest exporter (1,920 tonnes in 2005). France is the principal market for Hungarian foie gras; mainly exported raw. Approximately 30,000 Hungarian goose farmers are dependent on the foie gras industry.^[30] French food companies spice, process, and cook the foie gras so it may be sold as a French product in its domestic and export markets.^[31]

Bulgaria produced 1,500 tonnes of foie gras in 2005;^[28] Québec, Canada, also has a thriving foie gras industry; Canadian chefs use Québec foie gras as a demonstration of national pride. The demand for foie gras in the Far East is such that China has become a sizeable producer; however, Chinese foie gras is viewed with some suspicion by the French.^[32]

[edit] Production methods

Typical foie gras production involves force-feeding birds more food than they would eat in the wild, and much more than they would voluntarily eat domestically. The feed, usually corn boiled with fat (to facilitate ingestion), deposits large amounts of fat in the liver, thereby producing the buttery consistency sought by the gastronome.

[edit] Physiology and preparation

The geese and ducks used in foie gras production are, generally, Toulouse geese, and sterile hybrid ducks—Cairina moschata drakes crossed with female domestic ducks (Anas platyrhynchos). Geese and ducks are omnivorous, and, like many birds, have expansive throats allowing them to store large amounts of food, either whole or pre-digested, in the oesophagus while awaiting digestion in the stomach. In the wild this dilation allows them to swallow large foodstuffs, such as a whole fish, for a later, long digestion. Wild geese may consume 300 grams of protein and another 800 grams of grasses per day. Farmed geese allowed to graze on carrots adapt to eat 100 grams of protein, but may consume up to 2500 grams of the carrots per day. A wild duck may double its weight in the autumn, storing fat throughout much of its body and especially on the liver, in preparation for winter migration.^[33] In contrast, force feeding produces a liver that is six to ten times its ordinary size.^[34] Storage of fat in the liver produces steatosis of the liver cells.

The geese or ducks used in foie gras production are usually kept in a building on straw for the first four weeks, then kept outside for some weeks, feeding on grasses that toughen the oesophagus.^[35] The birds are then brought inside for gradually longer periods while introduced to a high starch diet. The next feeding phase, which the French call gavage or finition d'engraissement, or "completion of fattening", involves forced daily ingestion of controlled amounts of feed for 12 to 15 days with ducks and for 15 to 18 days with geese. During this phase ducks are usually fed twice daily while geese are fed up to 4 times daily.

[edit] Fattening

In modern production, the bird is typically fed a controlled amount of feed, depending on the stage of the fattening process, its weight, and the amount of feed it last ingested.^[36] At the start of production, a bird might be fed a dry weight of 250 grams of food per day, and up to 1,000 grams (in dry weight) by the end of the process. The actual amount of food force-fed is much greater, since the birds are fed a mash composed of about 53% dry and 47% liquid (by weight).^[37]

The feed is administered using a funnel fitted with a long tube (20–30 cm long), which forces the feed into the animal's esophagus; if an auger is used, the feeding takes about 45 to 60 seconds. Modern systems usually use a tube fed by a pneumatic pump;^[38] with such a system the operation time per duck takes about 2 to 3 seconds. During feeding, efforts are made to avoid damaging the bird's esophagus, which could cause it injury or death.

While force feeding is required to meet the French legal definition of "foie gras", producers outside of France do not always force feed birds in order to produce what they consider to be foie gras. Award-winning Spanish producer Patería de Sousa produces foie gras by taking advantage of the natural instinct of geese to fatten their own livers in preparation for migration.^[39]

[edit] Presentation

In France, foie gras, exists in different, legally-defined presentations, from the expensive to the cheap:^[40]

• foie gras entier (entire foie gras), made of one or two whole liver lobes; either cooked (cuit), semi-cooked (mi-cuit), or fresh (frais);
• foie gras, made of pieces of livers reassembled together;
• bloc de foie gras, a fully-cooked, molded block composed of 98% or more foie gras; if termed avec morceaux ("with pieces"), it must contain at least 50% foie gras pieces for goose, and 30% for duck.

Additionally, there exist pâté de foie gras; mousse de foie gras (both must contain 50% or more foie gras); parfait de foie gras (must contain 75% or more foie gras); and other preparations (no legal obligation established).

Fully cooked preparations are generally sold in either glass containers or metal cans for long-term preservation. Whole, fresh foie gras is usually unavailable, except in some producers' markets in the producing regions. Frozen whole foie gras sometimes is sold in French supermarkets.

Generally, French preparations of foie gras are over low heat (terrine), as too much fat melts from the traditional goose foie gras. The American palate, used to the more accessible duck foie gras, has more recipes and dish preparations for serving that foie gras hot, rather than cool or cold. The recent (in French culinary tradition) introduction of duck foie gras has resulted in some recipes returning to France from America. In Hungary, goose foie gras traditionally is fried in goose fat, which is then poured over the foie gras and left to cool. It also is eaten warm, after being fried or roasted, with some chefs smoking the foie gras over a cherry wood fire. In other parts of the world foie gras is served in exotic dishes such as foie gras sushi or alongside steak tartare.

Foie gras may be flavored with truffles or liquors such as armagnac. It is commonly served accompanied with crusty or toasted bread. It is often served with a dessert wine such as Sauternes, as the rich, sweet flavours go well together; classic wine and food matching; some diners prefer it with a dry white wine, such as those from Alsace; accompaniments may include onion jam.

[edit] Consumption

Foie gras is a luxury dish. Many in France only consume foie gras on special occasions, such as Christmas or New Year's Eve réveillon dinners, though the recent increased availability of foie gras has made it a less exceptional dish. In some areas of France foie gras is a year-round pleasure.

Duck foie gras is the cheaper and, since a change of production methods in the 1950s, by far the most common kind. The taste of duck foie gras is often referred to as musky with a subtle bitterness. Goose foie gras is noted for being less gamey and smoother.

[edit] Controversy

See also Force-feeding of animals

[edit] Animal rights and welfare groups

Animal rights and welfare groups such as PETA^[41], Farm Sanctuary^[42] and the Humane Society of the United States^[43] contend that foie gras production methods, and force feeding in particular, consist of cruel and inhumane treatment of animals. Specific complaints include livers swollen to many times their normal size, impaired liver function, expansion of the abdomen making it difficult for birds to walk, death if the force feeding is continued, and scarring of the esophagus.

PETA claims that the insertion and removal of the feeding tube scratch the throat and the esophagus, causing irritations and wounds and thus exposing the animal to risk of mortal infections.^[44]

In 2001, the Director of the New York State Government Affairs & Public Policy Dept. for the ASPCA wrote a letter to then NYS Attorney General, and now Governor, Elliot Spitzer, asking that the state's foie gras producers be prosecuted for violating animal cruelty statutes.^[45] No action was taken, however.

Late in 2003, the French group Stopgavage ("Citizens' Initiative for the banning of force-feeding") published the Proclamation for the Abolition of Force Feeding, which asks justices to find foie gras production practices a violation of existing animal welfare laws.^[46] For this manifesto Stopgavage claims the support of over eighty French animal rights and welfare associations, over a hundred such associations from 25 other countries, and over 20 thousand individual signatories.^[47]

Stopgavage, through its president Antoine Comiti, has criticized the INRA (the French department of agriculture)for allowing its researchers to receive grants from the foie gras industry for conducting research aimed at contradicting the EU report conclusions.^[48] Robert Dantzer, a retired INRA researcher, calls the INRA studies "pseudoscience" and "convenience research".^[49]

In 2005, APRL, IDA and PETA released a video narrated by Sir Roger Moore showing footage the groups took inside the three U.S. foie gras farms and several in France.^[50]

[edit] EU Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Welfare

The Report of the EU Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Animal Welfare on Welfare Aspects of the Production of Foie Gras in Ducks and Geese, adopted 16 December 1998, is an 89-page review of studies from several producing countries. It examines several indicators of animal welfare, including physiological indicators, liver pathology, and mortality rate. It strongly concludes that "force feeding, as currently practised, is detrimental to the welfare of the birds."

On physiology, the report finds that based on studies available, "no definite conclusions can be drawn concerning the physiological activity of birds in response to force feeding" because although "force feeding induced hepatic steatosis in the duck or goose", "hepatic steatosis in the waterfowl is a normal metabolic response" and have a low incident of disease indicating lesions. If gavage is stopped the "return to normal took approximately four weeks". As an economic indicator the report states "it is strongly in the interest of the farmer" to avoid disease as the "resulting fat liver is of no commercial value." It summarizes that "some pathologists consider this level of steatosis to be pathological but others do not" and recommends that research "should be carried out into methods of producing fat liver which do not require the use of force feeding".

The EU report notes that continued force feeding leads to early death of the animal, and the birds are typically slaughtered just at the point that mortality would drastically increase from the force feeding. In the studies it examined, "the mortality rate in force fed birds varies from 2% to 4% in the two week force feeding period compared with around 0.2% in comparable ducks".

On the force feeding process, The EU committee examined several experiments carried out by INRA (Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique) to detect pain or distress by looking at blood hormones, and found that no definite conclusions can be drawn from these studies. Other studies looked at behavioral aversion to the feeding process and found that force fed ducks avoided the feeding pen when given a choice, whereas a majority of the control group not being force fed would enter the feeding pen voluntarily. Daily hand-feeding of ducks and geese is normally associated with a positive response by the animals towards the person feeding them. In contrast, the working group observed that ducks and geese in a pen kept away from their force feeder when he entered the room. In an unpublished pilot experiment by INRA, ducks in cages reportedly displayed less avoidance behaviour to the force feeder’s visit than to the visit of a neutral person coming along the cages later. However, in the working group's own observations, "Ducks in cages had little opportunity to show avoidance but sometimes moved their heads away from the person who was about to force feed them."

The report also recommends collection of additional data regarding the health of the animals, feeding methods, animal housing, and socio-economic factors.

[edit] American Veterinary Medical Association

In 2004 and 2005, the American Veterinary Medical Association House of Delegates was forwarded resolutions from its Animal Welfare Committee to oppose the production methods for foie gras. After hearing testimony from 13 delegates, the HOD declined to take a position and left a simple statement: "Limited peer-reviewed, scientific information is available dealing with the animal welfare concerns associated with foie gras production, but the observations and practical experience shared by HOD members indicate a minimum of adverse effects on the birds involved."

The HOD sent delegates to visit foie gras farms. One delegate, Robert P Gordon of Vermont, indicated his personal position changed drastically after the visit. He also testified tube feeding is less distressing than taking the rectal temperature of a cat and urged the AVMA to take a position based on science, not emotion, while cautioning against anthropomorphism. The New York delegation offered their opinion that opponents of foie gras were intending to create a wedge issue; that the arguments used against foie gras would be modified to be used against other livestock production. The testimony of the delegate from the Association of Avian Veterinarians was that medicating and feeding sick birds via tube was a normal practice that birds accepted without stress. Another delegate who toured the farms stated that the birds appeared to be well cared for and better off than other poultry raised in factory farming. However, he went on to to provide his opinion that foie gras production induces disease, and that inducing disease for research may benefit society, but doing so to produce a food delicacy does not. Afterwards, a Nebraska delegate stated it was acceptable practice that cattle were also regularly fed an enriched diet that induced disease. The closing comments in the HOD were that the AVMA should be taking positions on facts and science, make broad policy positions on general animal welfare, and support positions that created oversight of controversial practices for fear that prohibition would cause production to move to countries without animal welfare regulation. ^[51]

Critics of the AVMA have noted that the organization tends to defend the economic interests of agribusiness over animal welfare, and that it has also declined to take a position against other controversial practices such as forced molting and gestation crates.^{[52] [53]}

[edit] Third-party opinions on US produced foie gras

In 1997, Dr. Cheever, DVM, vice-president and board member of The Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights ^[54], toured the Hudson Valley Foie Gras farm, owned by Michael Ginor, at the request of Whole Foods Market (a retailer of natural and organic products).^[55] At that time, Margaret Wittenberg, Communications Director for Whole Foods, and Michael Corsello, National Cheese Buyer and Coordinator for Whole Foods, "found the trip to be very upsetting".^[56]

In June 2005, New York Times editor Lawrence Downes was invited to a visit^[57] of the same farm, including specifically the gavage process,^[58] and he "saw no pain or panic...The birds submitted matter-of-factly to a 15-inch tube inserted down the throat for about three seconds, delivering about a cup of corn pellets. The practice...seemed neither particularly gentle nor particularly rough."^[58]

Dr. Ward Stone, wildlife pathologist with the NYSDEC and Adjunct Professor at SUNY has on several occasions conducted post-mortems on ducks that died from force feeding, including from the same farm a few months after Mr. Downes' visit.^[59] In September of 2005, he writes, "...the short tortured lives of ducks raised for Foie Gras is well outside the norm of farm practice. Having seen the pathology that occurs from Foie Gras production, I strongly recommend that this practice be outlawed."^[60]

In December of 2005, a New York State veterinary group toured the same farm. Dr. Holly Cheever noted, "Based upon my previous observations, it was clear to me that the operations at this facility had been altered and choreographed so as to display a more humane system and to eliminate the more cruel aspects of the production method."^[61]

[edit] Foie gras producers and industry groups

Most foie gras producers do not consider their methods cruel, insisting that it is a natural process exploiting the animals' natural features. Producers argue that wild ducks and geese naturally ingest large amounts of whole food and gain weight before migration. Foie gras producers also contend that geese and ducks do not have a gag reflex, and therefore do not find force feeding uncomfortable. Michael Ginor, owner of Hudson Valley Foie Gras and author of Foie Gras... A Passion, claims his birds come to him and says this is important because "a stressed or hurt bird won't eat and digest well or produce a foie gras."

According to Industry groups including the CIFOG, and researchers at INRA, forced feeding is not a cruel procedure and animals appreciate this treatment.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Litigation

The controversy over foie gras has been the subject of several lawsuits. The 1985 case Lovenheim v. Iroquois Brands was a shareholder suit regarding ethical concerns about a company selling foie gras. This case set a precedent that ethical and social issues may be considered “significantly related” to a corporation’s business even if that portion of the business is economically insignificant.^[62]

In 2003, the Animal Protection and Rescue League and In Defense of Animals filed suit against Sonoma Foie Gras in California under the state's unfair business practices law, alleging animal cruelty. The farm also sued the two groups and four activists who documented conditions at the farm for trespass.^[63] The Legislature then intervened with a law allowing the farm to continue force feeding until the year 2012, after which point both the sale and production of foie gras will be illegal in California.^[64]

In 2006, Sonoma Foie Gras sued Whole Foods Market for intentional interference with contract for influencing Grimaud Farms to stop supplying ducklings and marketing for Sonoma.^[65] The suit is still pending as of February 2007.

Also still pending is a 2006 lawsuit filed by the Humane Society of the United States against the New York Department of Agriculture and Markets, alleging that foie gras qualifies as an adulterated food that should not be sold.^[66]

[edit] Legal status

[edit] Europe

"Until new scientific evidence on alternative methods and their welfare aspects is available",^[67] the production of foie gras is prohibited by treaty except for "where it is current practice" among 35 countries^[68] bound by the Council of Europe's European Convention for the Protection of Animals kept for Farming Purposes.^[69]

The force feeding of animals for non-medical purposes, essential to current foie gras production practices, is explicitly prohibited by specific laws in six of nine Austrian provinces, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany^[70], Italy^[71], Luxembourg, Norway^[72], Poland^[73], or following interpretation of general animal protection laws in Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.^[74] Most of these countries aren't currently producing foie gras, nor have they been in the past. Thus, these bans have stopped actual foie gras production in very few countries, with the notable exception of Israel.^[75]

Since 1997, the number of European countries producing foie gras has halved; the production remains currently legal only in five countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Spain, France and Hungary.^[76]

French law states that "Foie gras belongs to the protected cultural and gastronomical heritage of France."^[77]

[edit] United States

State of California: Sections 25980-25984 of the California Health and Safety Code, enacted in 2004 and to become effective July 2012, prohibit the "force feed[ing of] a bird for the purpose of enlarging the bird's liver beyond normal size" as well as the sale of products that are a result of this process.^[78]

City of Chicago: On 26 April 2006, the City Council of Chicago voted to ban the sale of foie gras, effective 22 August 2006.^[79] In response, several Chicago chefs have filed suit and deliberately violated the law by continuing to sell foie gras.^[80] Further, a handful of chefs are serving foie gras without charge, which is not against the law.^[81][82] Even for establishments that are violating the law, the City is issuing warning letters but, until February 16, 2007, no citations were given. However, on February 17, 2007, Doug Sohn, owner of a gourmet hot dog shop was charged with a violation. Although the fine could have been as high as $500, Sohn agreed to pay a $250 fine on March 29.^[83]

^[84] In December 2006, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley referred to the ban as "the silliest law" the City Council has ever passed.^[85] As a result of the ban, Chicago restaurants Spiaggia and Tru developed dishes designed to simulate the foie gras experience. Chicago Tribune restaurant critic Phil Vettel found Tru's "Faux Gras" "close to the real thing", and Spiaggia's "terrina de fagato grasso vegetariano" "undeniably rich and indulgent", but "[lacking] the characteristic foie-gras intensity".^[86]

[edit] Elsewhere in the world

Argentina: Foie gras production is illegal in Argentina as a mistreatment or act of cruelty to animals.^[87]

Israel: In August 2003, the Supreme Court of Israel ordered the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture to ban the force feeding of geese, effective 31 March, 2005.^[88] The last appeal was withdrawn in October 2005, but the law was left unenforced until February 2006.^[89]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• What is Foie Gras?

• About the controversy on gavage:
  • Campaigns against force-feeding
    • GourmetCruelty.com: The Truth about Foie Gras (from a point of view that gavage is cruel to animals)
    • Stopgavage Manifesto for the abolition of force-feeding (French site with pages in English)
    • Stop Force-Feeding Animal Protection and Rescue League / In Defense of Animals Campaign
    • Foie Gras: Delicacy of Despair PETA sponsored page
    • No Foie Gras A Farm Sanctuary Campaign (includes video)
    • Force-Fed Abuse from The Humane Society of the United States
  • News reports
    • New York Times: Praise for Foie Gras Fortifies Its Critics
    • Controversy in NY state surrounding Hudson Valley Foie Gras, the largest U.S. producer.
    • Fox News story about California's anti-foie gras law
    • Article regarding foie gras controversy in Chicago and local government attempts to stop sales of the delicacy in city restaurants
    • Buzzle.com report on Israeli ruling
    • A UK Independent article about the controversy
    • NPR: France Questions the Foie Gras Tradition
    • Men's Vogue: "Stuffed Animals" by Jeffrey Steingarten
    • Chicago's Foie Gras Faux Pas at Legal News TV
    • Hot dog seller gets first foie gras fine AP via Yahoo! News

• • Op-ed
    • The Controversy Over Foie Gras - Does a Duck have a Soul? How foie gras became the new fur.
    • Shut Up & Eat your Food - the Foie Gras Debate

• • Scientific Studies
    • Report of the EU Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Animal Welfare on Welfare Aspects of the Production of Foie Gras in Ducks and Geese
  • First person
    • An American food and wine blogger goes inside the gavage shed at a foie gras farm in the Dordogne (Perigord), with pictures
    • An American chef interns on a foie gras farm
• About preparation:
  • A cookbook review of Foie Gras... a Passion
  • Foie Gras FAQ: The Liver Everyone Loves