Update on the Latest Attempt by the EU to Ban Foie Gras

I never thought I’d live to see this day. The European Union, with England in the lead, has been rumbling about a total ban of foie gras production. Can this be? I’m not sure what it would take to get this passed but I certainly can’t see the French of the Belgians supporting it.

In rural southwest France, over 30,000 workers make their living from the production of foie gras. Despite all the hue and cry, when the French and Belgian farmers bring their fresh foie gras to market on Sundays, their supplies, even at a price of over 50 Euros per kilo, are quickly exhausted. Seems the locals just can’t get enough of one of the last great delicacies on Earth. I don’t know how the EU will come down on this, but I must say I’m stunned that they are even considering it.

Here in America, things continue to be simply stupid. Chicago, at least for now, has banned the sales of foie gras at any restaurant. California, even worse, is considering a ban on production at the farms. And in Austin, restaurants like Jezebel and Jeffrey’s have been vandalized because they continue to have it on the menu. You know what? Good for them. If the foie gras activists abhor the sale of this product, then they have the right to boycott those offending restaurants. But they do not have the right to vandalize these places of threaten the families of the owners (that’s right, you heard me correctly).

This protest has gotten insane. We (humans) are at the top of the food chain. It may not always be the case. So let’s enjoy our status while we still have it. I am not going to get excited over a duck or goose that may be overfed to enlarge the size of its liver when that same duck or goose, were that not the case, would still destined for the slaughterhouse to serve as someone’s Christmas dinner. The Egyptians were doing it 3,000 years ago. Emperor Nero fed figs to his geese to produce foie gras. I’ve been to the Hudson Valley farm and watched the feeding of the duck and geese. I did not see anything inhumane about it. When the tubes (full of rich cornmeal) came out, the animals came running. No amount of force was necessary. On top of that, ducks and geese have very coarse throats. A tube does not bother them in the least as it might you or I. Sorry, that’s just the way I see it.