Culinary delicacy foie gras inspires a war -- and a book

We're hard pressed to think of a more controversial food than foie gras, the fancy (and, many animal advocates argue, inescapably cruel) dish made from the fattened livers of ducks or geese. To produce foie gras, the birds are force-fed large amounts of food through tubes pushed down their throats.

"In a matter of weeks, [the birds'] livers swell up to ten times their normal size," according to the website NoFoieGras.org, which is maintained by the animal protection organization Farm Sanctuary.  "Breathing and walking become difficult as the liver pushes against other organs, causing respiratory stress due to decreased air sac space in their lungs, and forcing the legs to move outward at an unnatural angle."

Chicago Tribune reporter Mark Caro's new book, "The Foie Gras Wars: How a 5,000-Year-Old Delicacy Inspired the World’s Largest Food Fight," offers an in-depth look at the practices that produce foie gras. 

Caro's book "is so well-written and so balanced in its treatment that it is, improbably, a real page turner. It has everything: fascinating characters, devious deeds, wit, suspense, science," Times food critic S. Irene Virbila writes on the Daily Dish blog.  "Guaranteed, you’ll think and think hard before you take that next bite of foie."  (Coming from a food critic, that's saying quite a lot.)

Fortunately for California animal lovers, the state issued a ban on force-feeding birds for the production of foie gras in 2004.  "There is no other known way to produce foie gras, so it de facto bans foie gras production. It also prohibits the sale of foie gras from force-fed birds," says Paul Shapiro, the senior director for the Humane Society of the United States' factory farming campaign.

But the ban doesn't go into effect until 2012 -- and even then, there's good reason for animal advocates to remain vigilant.  The city of Chicago passed a similar ban on restaurant sales of foie gras in 2006, but it was repealed two years later.

For more information on "The Foie Gras Wars," check its Amazon listing.  And Time Magazine has a great Q&A with Caro -- check it out at Time.com.

-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo: A dish of Pintade au Foie Gras. Credit: Ringo H.W. Chiu / For The Times

Comments

[JMG]

I think that it should be enough that an animal is dying so we can eat it. Do we have to torture it during it's life also? Between this and the inhumane treatment of lambs for their meat - I realize how selfish humans are. To intentionally force physical and mental pain and suffering on another living thing so we can have ONE SMALL meal - is simply a concept I will NEVER understand. I can only hope that one day we will learn how to treat ALL living things (humans and animals) with compassion.

[john649]

How long will it take for humans to wake up?

How long will it take for humans to stop torturing animals for entertainment and self gratification?

How long will it take for humans to stop wearing fur from tortured animals?

torture is torture is torture no matter how many ways you color it....

[Christina]

Caro's book does highlight arguments from both sides of the fight, but there is one aspect that he leaves out:expert opinion. Missing from The Foie Gras wars is any sort of testimony from veterinarians or fowl experts. No doubt that if this was present in the book, the mentioned food critic would say that she would no longer eat foie gras.

Also as pointed out, Californians, while waiting for the ban to go into effect, do need to show their support for the legislation. Please do not dine at restaurants that continue to serve foie gras, and if you do, please ask the chef or owner to stop serving foie gras. Find out more at banfoiegras.org