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*** Help*** They are trying to ban Foie Gras in York (UK)

post #1 of 9
1/24/07 at 1:33pm
Thread Starter 
I read a newspaper article today that the city council of York is trying to ban foie gras or the sale of.

I know that last year they banned foie gras in Chicago, what has been the reaction to this?

Whether you agree or disagree with the production of foie gras I personally believe that it is a freedom of choice issue and the minute you start removing certain choices you walk a fine line between a democracy and dictatorship. (Personal opinion)

So anyway it would be invaluable to know how Chicago and the rest of the states dealt with the issue, protested etc.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!!!

You can reply here or on chefsworld.net or even make your views known to the councillors in York.

www.chefsworld.net
http://www.chefsworld.net/chefs_forum2.asp?a=&FCID=1

www.york.gov.uk/council
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post #2 of 9
1/24/07 at 1:55pm
It is widely ignored for the most part. You can still get Foie Gras and the agency responsible for investigating violations is over worked and think investigating Foie Gras' banned usage is "the least important thing [they] are called upon to do". Chefs who still offer foie gras are referred to as "Duckeasies"

I can't imagine Foie Gras not being served in Europe I doubt they will succeed but if they do rogues like Ramsay will likely protest by continuing to serve it.
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post #3 of 9
1/25/07 at 9:37am
Cigarettes, which kills tens of thousands every year, still legal.

Alcohol, responsible for killing hundreds of thousands every year, still legal.

Fois gras, responsible for no deaths that anyone knows of (unless some poor schmuck got skished when the crates of fois fell on him at some point), let's make that illegal.

Common sense is out the window.
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post #4 of 9
1/27/07 at 10:35am

Should we ban Foie Gras or Ban the way we produce it?

I think the discussion about banning foie gras should be made around these questions:

How do we make the foie gras?
Does the animal suffer when we over feed them?
How is he killed after? Or does the duck die from having is liver grown to enourmous size? does he suffer when he dies?
I our sociaty can we close our eyes, look away, leave our sense of ethics at the door of any restaurant just to satisfy our fine palate?


Foie Gras is delicious for a lot of people and is a great product to work with. This is undeniable.

Therefore the real questions behind banning foie gras are the ones I have ask at the begining of this post.
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post #5 of 9
2/5/07 at 2:25am
Thread Starter 

Organic foie gras

Do they want to ban, organic foie gras.

Organic foie gras is using the natural tendancy for the animal to force feed itself before migration, when the, "birds belly touches the ground" then they are ready for slaughter.

So I think all the lovely tree huggers out there should make the distinction between farmed and organic foie gras.

I seriously suspect that this whole foie gras situation is one based on class (foie gras is expensive), you dont see the city of Chicago and York (uk) trying to ban battery farmed chicken and steroid use in cattle in their cities do you?
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post #6 of 9
2/5/07 at 9:22am
Is foie gras production cruel? I'm sure theres some pretty shady operations out there, but most that I've seen are small farms, and the ducks are pretty well treated. Better than battery chickens, mass produced beef and pork, etc...

The real issue here though is that the animal rights protesters have no hope in **** of being able to tackle the larger issues - large scale cattle and chicken producers are too powerful with too much influence, but most foie gras farmers are small scale - easier to intimidate, shut down, and have their product banned. Not to mention Ducks are cute animals, so it's easier to draw the public to their cause (same reason they try to stop the seal hunt up north here...).
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post #7 of 9
2/5/07 at 9:28am
Ducks are really cute......and very tasty! mmmmmmm They'll never be able to police or control the sell of that. They may implement some sort of fine, but the restaurant will just pay the fine and take it off the menu until the heat is off and put it back on. I would be interested in finding out how many people will actually take it off. I wouldn't.
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post #8 of 9
2/10/07 at 5:03am
if it was up to me fois gras would be illegal, cigarettes illegal... alcohol.. better controlled, veal illegal... god so many things, but until i rule the world as a dictator... ill serve what im told (except fois gras, veal, lobster that im not allowed to kill before i boil same for crab... ive cut a chefs fingers off before for doing that... i TOLD him i would... he got the message and wont do crabs live either now...) those mussels you do live... wont do them... lol... such an animal lover
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post #9 of 9
2/10/07 at 5:04am
foie gras... they put a tube into the animals mout and about 2 weeks before slaughter start force feeding it fatty corn mash... the liver enlarges which in humans hurts so in animals im sure it hurts too.....

how is that NOT cruel?
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