In seven months, foie gras is going to be banned by California. The impetus for the bill was, of course, animal rights activists who claim that the fattened goose or duck liver promotes cruelty to animals. Naturally, chefs are fighting back and planning types of resistance:
“This is a rather embarrassing temper tantrum on the part of these chefs; the bill will take effect whether they like it or not,” said Lindsay Rajt, an associate director with the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. “The idea of paying upwards of $100 to eat pieces of a diseased organ would be laughably funny to most people if it didn’t involve cramming pipes down birds’ throats and painfully force-feeding them.”
I don’t like foie gras myself, but I know it’s a staple of French culture. I can’t imagine the force feeding of animals is much more unethical than feeding them hormones or keeping them in small areas, as a lot of poultry producers do. (Forgive me for linking to PETA. For the record, I am practically a carnivore.)
Foie gras is an easy target because it’s expensive and linked to a decadent part of western European culture. I doubt the same activists would be successful in harassing the morals of a group that is not linked to the bourgeoisie.
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