Great news: I’m late to the party on this one, but it seems that Thomas Keller and other great California chefs are standing up to fight California’s insane ban on foie gras:
More than 100 of California’s best-known chefs have joined forces to fight the nation’s first state law banning the sale of foie gras.
In a last-minute effort, chefs such as Michael Chiarello, Thomas Keller, Ludo Lefebvre and Tyler Florence have signed a petition to submit to state Assembly Speaker John Pérez early this week, urging the Legislature to reconsider the July 1 ban.
Efforts to ban foie gras have far more to do with lefty aesthetics than genuine concern about animal cruelty: Living out one’s days as a force-fed goose on some artisinal producer’s is surely no less pleasant, and perhaps a good deal more so, than being a pig or chicken on a giant factory farm out of Sinclair Lewis. No, this sort of thing is about populist politicians trying to score points by targeting people with money and taste, restricting liberty in the process. It is amazing that even as we are beginning to finally have an honest conversation about the “War on Drugs”, politicians are still looking for consumables to ban.
Oh, and before you veggo types get on your high horse, how many fluffy bunny rabbits do you think your carrot farmer had to kill to get that salad to you unmolested?
Prick With A Fork 
“Oh, and before you veggo types get on your high horse, how many fluffy bunny rabbits do you think your carrot farmer had to kill to get that salad to you unmolested?”
Simply brilliant!
How cruel is it exactly? To your point – their treatment is probably generally pretty good and certainly better than under many animal husbandry practices that go unremarked upon (and certainly not banned). Posh people scoffing fois gras is a pretty easy target – try banning pork or cheap chicken and see how far you get in the States. Forget guns – youd have to take KFC or pork riblet thingies from their cold, dead hands (I speak as a former US resident and someone with great affection for the the US).
Unless we have personally visited a goose feeding farm, it is hard for us to decide if their raising conditions are cruel or not.
Foie Gras Geese’s liver is so bloated that it presses against the bones of the ribcage and gets bruised in the process. Moving around with a bruised liver is just not pleasant.
Yet again being a pig continuously fed on antidepressants and stuck in a cage where all moves save from laying down are restricted is not exactly a dream either.
I think bottom line is that some people would never eat pig meat if it wasn’t for the intensively raised, cheapest meat on the market. While withdrawing foie gras from the market will not have such heavy social repercussions.
(this coming from a person who imports and sells foie gras)
Then again if cruelty to animals is the concern behind the interdiction of some products, what about fur, which is essentially ripped piece by piece from the living and feeling body of animals? Is it tolerated in California?
I do not understand the definition of “cruelty to animals” in this state.
Pingback: Everybody – Except Weightlifters – Must Get Stoned | Prick With A Fork
Hey There. I found your blog the use of msn. That is a really smartly written article.
I will be sure to bookmark it and return to read extra of your helpful information.
Thanks for the post. I will certainly return.
Pingback: Let Foie-dom Ring | Prick With A Fork