Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/10/31/foie-gras-banned-in-new-york-c.html
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Foie Gras is one of those things wherein the process does not need to be what it is to get the product. It evolved to that because…consumerism.
There are companies who are producing FG through humane and sustainable processes. The product should not be banned…the method should be.
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The best meal of my life was a dish of Foie Gras I had from a small restaurant in Hungary about 15 years ago.
I no longer eat meat, but I can understand why this will be seen as heavy handed. In the end though not being cruel tastes better than the product of that cruelty.
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So… There is no “humane” way to induce fatty liver disease…
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Kenji from serious eats did a long expo on foie, found here. It’s pretty revelatory and worth a read, no matter what side of the debate you land on.
IMO, once you decide to eat animal flesh (no judgement from me), the part of the animal or variety of animal itself is pretty insignificant.
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Educate yourself.
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I’d love to see a “Pepsi challenge” type event with foodies between Foie Gras and Tofu Misozuke.
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Interesting, can you post a link? I love foie gras, but also feel guilty about eating it, and I’d like to support people who are making it without torturing the animals.
ETA: just saw that you posted a link in response to someone else, thanks!
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But the treatment of the animal still matters.
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I don’t disagree with you. Some people would argue that the gavage isn’t torture.
Either way, it always ends in death, so yeah.
Thank you for introducing me to Tofu Misozuke! I’m digging into this now.
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Thanks for posting that–Kenji is a damn treasure. I have yet to see someone do a better job addressing the ambivalence a lot of people have on this topic.
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If you start a batch now, it might be ready in time for the new year 
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Mark Caro wrote an excellent deep dive after the Chicago and California bans were passed.
I’d recommend reading up on that story from some other sources besides Barber. To the extent that that’s possible, Barber is the major source on the subject in English.
Caro and a few other reporters attempted to properly report/investigate the story after the farmer in question won an award from the French processed foie industry and Barber started pushing it. They weren’t too successful and Caro gave it another go for the book leaving a lot of open questions.
No one has been able to replicate the guys results, even using his exact methods. He won’t show anyone his slaughter or processing operations. He’s shown and sold no fresh lobes, only pates, confit and other packaged products. And it appears he may be producing more foie than the number of birds on the farm can produce, though its hard to tell because his product is very, very hard to come by. If there are answers on all that weird they aren’t in English.
You’d think if this were genuinely possible. That after more than a decade there would be more than this one guy doing it. People have tried and the best they’ve done is put out what gets labeled “wild” or “natural” foie and not all that different from routine duck or goose liver.
Funny thing is that Vets, Ornithologists, and Animal Welfare experts don’t describe it as a disease. The claim comes from animal rights groups applying a condition and standards for mammals onto birds. The fattened state of the liver doesn’t effect liver function, and if you stop feeding but allow the duck to live. It returns to normal with no damage to the liver.
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You can pry my bourbon from my cold, dead hands.
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One more item off my list to try after I win the lottery & go all dark side.
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It’s not exactly billionaire food. A whole, fresh lobe of Hudson Valley Foie is $127 for about 2lbs. And its broadly considered the highest quality foie on the American market. That’s not cheap for sure, but a portion is like 2oz. Its not affordable staple food by any means, but its not really outside the bracket for shit like heritage pork or farmed oysters over wild.
I don’t particularly like foie, but despite some persistent brokeness I’ve had it a number of times.
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If someone gave me the option of being shot in the head or tortured, then shot in the head, I’ll take the former.
Of course, my real choice, like every animal, would be “just don’t kill me.”
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Which part of this is unethical?
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In humans it is considered a precursor to disease. It can eventually result in cirrhosis. But… over decades, which ducks and geese do not live to see. So it may indeed not be an issue at all for them.
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