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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSacramento restaurants find loopholes in foie gras ban
The Sacramento Bee - The state's July 1 ban on foie gras was supposed to prevent the fatty goose or duck liver from being served at California restaurants. Instead, foie gras has become more popular, and enforcement of the new law has been nearly nonexistent.
Sacramento chefs and others from around California are exposing loopholes in the law, making foie gras fairly easy to find in restaurants despite its blacklisted status. You can find it served at such restaurants as The Kitchen in Sacramento, where foie gras is treated as a complimentary item not officially for sale and technically, some say, not illegal. "There's more interest in foie gras now than ever," said Randall Selland, executive chef and owner of The Kitchen. "If you ask to try it, we'll let you have some. It won't be on the menu and there's no extra charge."
Other California restaurants offer expensive orders of toast that come topped with "complimentary" foie gras. That's the case at downtown's Restaurant Thir13en, which serves a $21 brioche toast that's paired with complimentary seared foie gras and a foie gras panna cotta.
Violating the law can result in a $1,000 fine, but no restaurant in Sacramento county has so far received a citation for serving foie gras. The law states that animal control or peace officers are qualified to issue citations, though no complaints or inquiries have been received by Sacramento County Animal Care and Regulation.
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/07/25/4657480/sacramento-restaurants-find-loopholes.html
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well ain't that special
dkf
(37,305 posts)That is just a "screw you" to the government.
ret5hd
(20,523 posts)wink wink. Even you aren't that blind.
LisaL
(44,974 posts)LOL.
Baclava
(12,047 posts)"St. Helena's Goose & Gander, which has a goose mascot named Fergus, currently offers a foie gras dish listed as "Senate Bill 1520. "The $28 dish includes a "torchon of Fergus" with bing cherry jam and toast."
NewMoonTherian
(883 posts)The law is obnoxious, and the government has earned that "screw you".
Scuba
(53,475 posts)Capt. Obvious
(9,002 posts)Banning large sodas - now that is nanny state.
Scuba
(53,475 posts)Agreed on the large sodas.
joeybee12
(56,177 posts)no doubt about it.
Brother Buzz
(36,469 posts)Foie gras producers maintain that force feeding ducks and geese is not uncomfortable for the animals nor is it hazardous to their health.
Luminous Animal
(27,310 posts)joeybee12
(56,177 posts)Yeah, the people who make money off this can be trusted...try listening to groups concerned with animal welfare...I repeat, good phucking lord...I can't believe you posted that s**t.
Brother Buzz
(36,469 posts)Fup Duck. Ya get it? Fup...Duck. - Grandaddy Jake, Fup by Dodge
joeybee12
(56,177 posts)With some of the stuff that's been posted here as of late...point taken.
Scuba
(53,475 posts)Beringia
(4,316 posts)you are involved in the practices of how it is raised. Without someone buying it, there would be no practice of the cruelty to begin with.
Scuba
(53,475 posts)Cannot foie gras be harvested from such birds?
Or is eating chicken also taboo?
Sincere question; my knowledge of foie gras is limited to a few bites (delicious).
joeybee12
(56,177 posts)They have to be forced fed and fattened in a relatively short span of time.
Scuba
(53,475 posts)Beringia
(4,316 posts)"The animals are fed two to four times a day, for about two to three weeks."
"After the force-feeding, the liver has enlarged to about six to ten times the original size. At big foie gras farms, the animals are held in extra cages in which they cannot move, and the enlarged liver causes breathing problems. It pushes on other organs, so the animals are often in pain and cannot move anymore."
And then they are killed.
gregoire
(192 posts)nanny state? It isn't. It's common sense.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)gregoire
(192 posts)I was replying to the post that made fun of sensible legislation to control the distribution of sugary drinks.
4th law of robotics
(6,801 posts)and they didn't choose how that first group wanted them to. What recourse was there but to force the second group in to compliance using the law? The alternative, living knowing someone else is doing something you find immoral in a private setting far from you in a manner that in no way affects you, is just too horrible to imagine.
Chan790
(20,176 posts)el_bryanto
(11,804 posts)Baclava
(12,047 posts)el_bryanto
(11,804 posts)And making maryjane illegal has proven foolish as well.
Bryant
Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)The idea is that a tube is forced into the stomach of a goose, and it is fed a constant diet of grain mash. It's literally piped through the bird. The end result is that the goose's liver can't handle the "diet" and becomes diseased and inflamed. The animals are immobilized to prevent them "working off" any fat or, you know, bumping into something and causing hteir own swollen organs to rupture.
And then they serve that liver in a restaurant for astronomical prices. The profit goes back to the people shoving pipes into geese, and the process begins anew.
The idea of the law is to cut out that part - making the torture of a bird lucrative. The only "foolish" part is the lack of enforcement.
Baclava
(12,047 posts)foodie-porn-fatty-goose livers leaves me cold, to each his own I guess
redqueen
(115,103 posts)Not even the undercover kind... the in your face, part of an accepted practice kind.
Beringia
(4,316 posts)People feel very safe making any kind of comment when it comes to cruelty to animals on DU. If it is humans, they dare not say such outright cruel things.
Animal rights has not become mainstream or politically correct yet to rein in people's expression of their thoughts about cruelty to animals.
Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)frylock
(34,825 posts)pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)flvegan
(64,416 posts)when the issue is raised.
Beringia
(4,316 posts)"Foie gras is produced by force feeding ducks or geese with a funnel and long tube to create an engorged liver, a process known as gavage. Though foie gras has deep roots in France's culinary traditions, gavage has been outlawed in a number of European countries."
"The law states that animal control or peace officers are qualified to issue citations, though no complaints or inquiries have been received by Sacramento County Animal Care and Regulation."
How awful. Hopefully someone will call in a complaint and the restaurants get called on this.
el_bryanto
(11,804 posts)And if not (and I don't believe it does) - why not ban gavage rather than foie gras.
Bryant
petronius
(26,604 posts)that the birds engage in - http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1919163,00.html
It sort of makes sense that there's natural foie gras, the only way I can imagine the delicacy was discovered in the first place is someone eating a duck or goose right before it migrated...
Beringia
(4,316 posts)It means creating a diseased fatty liver in a short period of time called hepatic lipidosis.
article - France
Today, the fattening process takes place as follows: after several weeks inside a building, living on straw, the ducks and geese are kept outside and mainly eat grass. Afterwards, the force-feeding starts. The animals are fed two to four times a day, for about two to three weeks. The amount of food fed rises from about 250 grams at the beginning to 1000 - 2000 grams per day at the end of the process, depending on the size and weight of the animal. To achieve this, a cone with a long tube is inserted into the oesophagus through wich the feed is piped. Each feed lasts for 2-3 seconds (using modern techniques such as a pneumatic pump) or 45-60 seconds (using traditional methods). After the force-feeding, the liver has enlarged to about six to ten times the original size. At big foie gras farms, the animals are held in extra cages in which they cannot move, and the enlarged liver causes breathing problems. It pushes on other organs, so the animals are often in pain and cannot move anymore. At the final stage, some ducks use their wings to move themselves, as their body is often so heavy that it can't be held by their feet anymore. Plus, many of them suffer then the common fate of cage birds: natural preening behaviour is not possible, and the inability to move causes open pressure sores and respiratory distress. Then, they are slaughtered.
http://www.europeandme.eu/8heart/442-foie-gras
el_bryanto
(11,804 posts)So whats natural about natural foie gras? Well, he takes advantage of the gooses natural reaction when the weather turns cold, at right about this time of year: the geese naturally gavage: they gorge on everything around them, storing up calories for the winter. Just like me. A very simple idea. Eduardo slaughters the geese at the end of this period of natural gavage, and he gets a liver that he claims is better than foie gras.
. . . He designed the fence for the geese, a paddock that he moves around the property so that they are always feeding on fresh grass. It was something Id never seen before, and I thought it was brilliant. The inside of the fence is not electrified, but the outside is. When I asked him about this, he said, When my geese feel manipulated, they dont eat as much because theyre not happy, but if I give them everything they want, they are happy, so theres no reason for them to leave, and they know it. They feel more comfortable just knowing they are free to go, and they eat more. Theres no need to electrify the inside of the fence whereas electrification of the outside protects them by keeping out predators.
http://neweconomicsinstitute.org/publications/articles/barber/dan/a-perfect-expression-of-nature So I guess you can have Foie Gras without Gavage.
Bryant
Beringia
(4,316 posts)in and they saw how they were raised, then maybe he could get a pass for selling them. They are raised en mass in Europe.
el_bryanto
(11,804 posts)without much regard to how it is produced.
Bryant
Baclava
(12,047 posts)I give you, local politics usually prevail.
just curious
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)That's delicious, but foie gras is sublime.
The force feeding takes a few seconds, and because ducks and geese don't have a gag reflex, and their throats can expand, it's pretty efficient. My family always did ducks, since geese can be really nasty fuckers.
You end up using every piece of the duck, too...so very little waste. Same thing with the pigs.
Zalatix
(8,994 posts)kctim
(3,575 posts)cbayer
(146,218 posts)And those that talk of the inhumane practices best be vegetarians, because the production of foie gras pales in comparison to what they do to chickens and cows.