The European Union, in accord with their aim of improving animal welfare, is putting the squeeze on France to ban or at least modify the traditional force of ducks, where they are confined to cages that allow them no room to move and then several times a down are force fed humungous amounts of grain by way of a funnel shoved down their throats. These ducks, stuffed before they are cooked, then, due to the food overload, produce enlargened livers used to make the much acclaimed tasting Fois de Gras that is a stable of gourmet pates.
Opinions of whether it's right to foie gras or not in France (or elsewhere)?

Before someone corrects me, i guess its Foie Gras, which i think means "fat liver?"

Sounds like a "crise de foie" to me.

I won't take it too seriously yet. Foie gras is a major agricultural product in all of southwestern France and in Alsace. Moreover, the Périgourdins claim that the Alsatian pâté is made from Hungarian and Israeli goose livers. Is the EU putting similar pressure on these countries?

I don't know much about the situation, but I think that is absolutely cruel, and even if I liked fois de gras (which I don't), I would never knowingly eat anything that came from animals that were treated so cruely. Good for the EU to trying to help.

I heard about it years ago when I was touring France and vowed never to eat it. I am glad someone is looking into the cruelty.

The governator just signed into law that by 2012 there will be no more foie gras making industries in CA. Right now there is only one company that does it.

And who said those mean old republicans can't show compassion!

Well I always loved fois de gras (did I spell this correctly?) and ate it every chance I got. But I did not know the story behind it.
Since I read all the information I would "gag" eating it. I think many others who were innocent of the details now feel as I do. Disgusting does not even begin to describe what were done to these ducks. Yuck!

Devil's Advocate: Interesting article here, a year old but nevertheless I submit for consideration:

http://www.sfexaminer.com/article/in...2703e_unterman

Hello all
I tried foie gras on one of our earlier Paris trips, at Ma Bourgogne in the Marais and while the salad that it topped was good ( the Yankee ordered it) I was put off by the texture. After finding out the method of getting those big fat livers, I was glad that it was not something I liked, since I would not eat it again..it is sickening to think of. Since I do not eat meat, this is a moot point, but I feel the same way about milk fed veal.
But, the French like it and so do many tourists, so my bet is that they will find a way around this and continue to produce and sell it.

on the other hand...this is just a travel board, not a place of judgment/good/evil/morality.

Unless you do not eat meat or animal products, to my mind it is hard to draw this line. What is done to the ducks to produce foie gras is worse than the feeding methods and killing of other kinds of animals?

It's foie gras, pronounced fwa GRWA--although on the Iron Chef it comes out more like FWA gra, which always makes us giggle.

I don't care i love that stuff so much that i want to rub it all over my body. I think there is no food in the world as smooth....

Darling, I ADORE foie gras, as it is my favourite food in the entire universe!! If I were on DEATH ROW, it would be my last meal (along with a bottle of Yquem '63). Of course, I also wear mink coats without guilt.

I am no Gandhi, sweetie. A loincloth and some odd bits of vegetarian curry are not for me.

ThinGorjus-
Whatever turns you on.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/06/di...tml?oref=login
This is from today's New York Times, please read.

I read that article. What a bunch of idiots. You eat what you want and let me eat what i want. Who cares about some stupid duck whose primary goal in life is to become food! Has anyone ever seen how a cow or chicken is raised in California? drive thru the central valley of California sometime.

As for Paul McCartney and Martin Sheen, I say we boycott them and stop buying their lousey music and bad films.

If you notice it also says in the article that it would be illegal to sell or produce foie gras in California after the year 2012.

Here is the funny part of the article...

Dr. Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University and the author of "Food Politics" (California Press, 2003), said: "The governor is on a slippery slope. If he thinks ducks are treated badly, he needs to go visit a slaughterhouse."

She asked: "Are we going to have bootlegged foie gras? Are we going to see celebrity chefs jailed along with Martha Stewart for selling foie gras?"

Paula Wolfert, the author of the classic cookbook "The Cooking of Southern France," put it another way: "These Hollywood people need a trip to the Dordogne. I'd rather be a force-fed duck than a Tyson chicken."

I am going to France in Novemember and I plan to stuff myself with Foie Gras til I explode.

Quack!

Take a funnel with you!