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Lifestyle-Puck 03-23 0285
Celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck leaves foie gras off menu



LOS ANGELES, March 22, 2007 (AFP) - Austrian-born celebrity chef Wolfgang
Puck announced Thursday his food and restaurant empire would drop foie gras
from its menus as part of a drive against animal cruelty.

Puck, whose catering group boasts world-famous Los Angeles restaurant Spago
amongst more than 100 other eateries, including several in Japan, said from now
on only animals reared humanely would be used by his company.

"Our guests want to know the meals they eat in my restaurants are made with
fresh, natural, organic ingredients," said Puck, who often handles catering at
high-profile Oscars award events.

"They want to know where the produce comes from and how the animals are
raised."

As part of the drive, Puck put together an animal treatment program in
partnership with the Humane Society of the United States and the Farm
Sanctuary, an animal-protection pressure group, the statement said.

The nine-point program aims to end to some of the most controversial
practices associated with factory farming, it added.

The program's provisions include a pledge to only use eggs from cage-free
hens as well as a ban on pork and veal that comes from pigs and calves kept in
cages that prevent turning or walking.

Foie gras, the delicacy made from force-feeding ducks, would be eliminated
from menus as would seafood that has not been certified as sustainable.

"We want a better standard for living creatures. It's as simple as that,"
Puck added in the statement.

Farm Sanctuary has protested Puck's restaurant and food chain in recent
years over its use of veal and foie gras.





Hmm, any thoughts? Seems like another blow to the consumption of foie gras and its would be availability.

[KYHeirloomer]

I'm not really surprised. Puck has a tendency to do the PC thing.

The amusing part, of course, is that the Chicago ban which started the controversey is almost universially ignored by everybody.

[foodnfoto]

The amusing part, of course, is that the Chicago ban which started the controversey is almost universially ignored by everybody.

This shows that laws without enforcement are useless. The law that restricts talking on a cell phone while driving is nearly useless too, because the police do not enforce it with any gusto. My life and limb have been endangered on numerous occasions due to drivers distracted by their cell phone conversations.

Regarding Wolfgang Puck, I salute him and all his efforts to bring a certain human conciousness of diners to what they eat. While I'm certainly not a rabid vegetarian, I don't believe animals should suffer just to supply us with a protein source.

In the case of foie gras, it's a delicacy that no one anywhere would deem necessary for nutritional survival. The emotional overaction of people who rabidly defend extreme luxury seems kind of perverse when so many suffer.

I wish people who defend foie gras so vehemently would remember the 35,000 children that die every day of ailments related to starvation when they sit down to eat.

[Pete]

I might think more of Puck if I felt he was really doing this because of some deep held belief of his, but come on, this is a publicy-marketing move by him because foie has a bad rap right now, and many celebs. (Puck's bread & butter) are on the anti-foie movement. This is nothing more than bowing to a small, but vocal contingent. I can't believe that after so many years, he has just suddenly "seen the light". This is all about marketing and money, which is fine, but then don't cover it in self-righteous bantering about humanely raising food. So don't cheer Puck on for his making a "noble" decision. He hasn't! He has bowed to a group of people and hides behind the curtain of "doing the right thing" when all he really is concerned about is his rep. and bottom line.

[tcapper]

Sorry but this just shows you how PC, celebrity stupidity he is.

Foie Gras is and can be produced organically. So by saying I am going to stop selling it, shows you how uneducated he is.

In fact this year alone two organic producers of foie gras recieved awards for the quiality of the product, one in spain and the other in france.

And just to educate the uneducated, organic foie gras is produced by free range ducks who naturally eat excessivly before migration, when their bellies naturaly touch their feet (storage for migration) then they are slaughterd in their lovely free range slaughter house.

So grow up, wake up and re educate yourself wolfgang

www.chefsworld.net

[kuan]

Originally Posted by tcapper

In fact this year alone two organic producers of foie gras recieved awards for the quiality of the product, one in spain and the other in france.

Hey I'd like to hear more about that!

Wolfgang drops the foie gras and a loud thud is heard around the world.

[tcapper]

Here is more info on organic foie gras.


Spanish company Pateria de Sousa, in Badajoz province, is seen as more ethical because it makes its foie gras by slaughtering the birds at a time when they have naturally eaten more to create reserves for what would have been migration.
It means the harvest is seasonal, before Christmas or in February, depending on the weather. And it is limited to geese, not including the more reliable, breed-able ducks. But the proof of the pudding comes in the tasting - and the French have already given it a food award at the Paris International Food Salon.
"We don't force feed the animals, they feed and live freely on our land," says the farm's owner, Eduardo Sousa. "The animals eat and eat and eat, so that they'll be fat for winter."
They live in symbiotic harmony with the farm's pigs, bred for its Spanish "jamon". While the pigs feed on acorns, the geese pick up their leftovers, plus the figs and lupins dotted around. "We know when the geese are ready because their bellies drag on the ground." So how would they take off to migrate? Well, these ones don't.

END

These people just make me ill, bending over backwards to make a few headlines and PR, to please the minimal celebs.

The only reason they pick on foie gras is because of the presumed wealth of the people eating it, you dont see people harping on about battery farmed chicken, why because battery chickens are food for the masses and not just the bougeoisee.

wolfgang you are a muppet for giving up food and flavour, coward

www.chefsworld.net

[tcapper]

Originally Posted by foodnfoto

I wish people who defend foie gras so vehemently would remember the 35,000 children that die every day of ailments related to starvation when they sit down to eat.

Hey foodnfoto

you are obviously one of the uneducated masses like wolfgang and you call yourself a food editor.

I wonder if those 35,000 people dying of starvation are in iraq as a direct result of a lie, on which you spend millions every day killing innocent civilians.

Here is an interesting concept for you, before doctors were available to the masses (like the battery chickens you love) only the strongest survived, so if we went back to the law of nature and only the strongest survived, then overpopulation, mass farming would not exist, but i am sure as **** foie gras would.

Take some time to understand things before you make a comment like that.

www.chefsworld.net
So before you spout, understand the facts.

[kuan]

Originally Posted by tcapper

I wonder if those 35,000 people dying of starvation are in iraq as a direct result of a lie, on which you spend millions every day killing innocent civilians.

Iraq? We're talking Africa, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, New Guinea, North Korea, Burma, Haiti, etc.

We sometimes let our indulgence color our world. There are some who aren't as fortunate as us.

[tcapper]

Hey

Yea yea, but what Im saying is that people like foodnfoto love to spout that rubbish about foie gras because it is a luxury item, you dont see people like him saying lets ban chicken.

www.chefsworld.net

[kuan]

OK, tcapper your point made. People may disagree.

[Someday]

I dunno guys, foie gras issue aside, the steps he is undertaking to phase out "factory farmed" animals and go toward naturally raised meat and eggs, etc, in my opinion, can only be lauded as a good thing.

Yeah yeah, many people here will only tunnel vision onto the foie issue, but I think the larger import needs to be placed on all the other, more positive things his initiative will hopefully spur.

[foodnfoto]

No need to get nasty, tcapper.

I'm glad there is a grower in Spain that uses humane methods to grow and harvest the foie gras. I wish all foie gras was sourced from such providers.

Before you start making rash assumptions about me due to one of my posts, just know that I have visited farms in France that produce foie gras and witnessed first hand the force feeding of the geese and their subsequent slaughter. Not something I would choose to see again. Therefore, I choose not to eat the stuff.

I have also seen the environmental impact of factory hog and poultry farms in my home state of NC.
Factory farming is inhumane to the animals, leads to disease, environmental degradation, lower quality and flavor, and poor working conditions for those who must man the processing plants.
I'm only asserting that people should understand more clearly where their food is coming from and what it takes to produce it.

Wolfgang Puck is making an informed decision about how he wants to market himself and his products. If the market segment that he caters to wants to eat meats from humane growers, it only shows respect for his clientele and sound marketing sense. If family farmers that produce superlative products benefit from supplying his operation, so much the better. It all leads to more sustainable agri-business which has far reaching benefits.

I just can't help but cringe a bit when people so vehemently defend the necessity of a luxury. Eat the stuff if you want, but don't squawk so loudly if the larger community asserts their desire for balance and humane treatment of the other creatures that share our world. People generally object to the appearance of selfish and unseemly behavior by people who have greater resources than the larger population.

[Pete]

Once again, I really don't care if Puck decides not to serve foie in his restaurants, but he really needs to be honest about his decision. I don't buy that he's doing it out of his desire to do "greater good." He's doing it to appease his clientele, so just say that. How about a little "truth in advertising".

As a chef and business owner, Puck has every right to make decisions about his business. I don't fault him for that, but at least he still has the right to make those decisions. In Chicago, that decision was taken out of chefs' hands by the City Council. I applude all those restaurants that are selling $15 plates of "toasted brioche" with a complimentary side of foie gras terrine. The City Council overstepped their bounds (even the mayor agrees) and should be called on it. Until then I support all the chefs and their "civil disobedience." What's next? Banning veal? Or how about eggs? Have you ever seen the conditions in an egg farm (factory)?!

[RAS1187]

Foie Gras enforcement in Chicago from what I hear is minimal to none.
The department in charge of enforcing violations is already so overworked with the other things they do, that issuing fines for trivial foie gras violations ranks at the bottom of the list.


Charlie Trotter pulled foie gras off his menu because of a deep belief that he was doing the right thing, not because he was trying to boost his public image. I can totally respect this.

While I will not take shots at Wolfgang (such as calling him a coward) because I have a huge amount of respect for him as a cook, I will admit I am not really pleased by this.