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The food blogs were all in a buzz yesterday about the possibility of a foie gras ban, similar to the one recently enacted in Chicago, being instituted here in New York. It seems that Councilman Alan Gerson was poised to introduce a ban today; Ariane Daugin of D'Artagnan, a prominent purveyor of foie based in New York, sent an email to her food-related contacts urging action. Jennifer Leuzzi posted the email in its entirety on Snack. In addition to providing contact information for the councilman, Daugin provided "proof points" in an attempt to educate readers about foie gras.
But panic among foie lovers subsided today as the New York Sun reported that Gerson has held off on proposing the ban, at least for now: "'I'm generally sympathetic to humane issues,' the city council member who was proposing the ban, Alan Gerson, said, 'but there are a lot of people on both sides of the issue.' Mr. Gerson said that a phone call he received from a constituent aided in his decision not to introduce the legislation." Could it be that Daugin's plea for support worked?
Chigagoans have not reacted well to the ban. One of our favorite NPR podcasts explores the day the ban was enacted, when restaurateurs protested by serving foie gras, even in dishes where it didn't quite work, like sitting atop a pizza. We'd wager that similar protests would occur here if a ban were enacted.
Photo of foie gras torchon courtesy of Megnut, winner of "battle foie gras" (sorry, Adam).
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I have an idea, let's stop eating everthing. that way we'll please the PETA-tards, the tree huggin hippy's, and mcdonalds's trans fat bullshit will go away.
What's with bans on food that consumers knowingly eat? I thought this is supposed to be a free country.
Foie gras is inhuman but abortion is "a right". Fascinating.
Ariane Daguin is not "of Snack," but rather of D'artagnan. Jennifer Leuzzi has a blog entry at http://snack.blogs.com/snack/2006/11/hotsnack_urgent.html reprinting an e-mail she received from Ariane.
TRANS THIN IS TROLLING
french fries taste SO much better now with the new ban. amazing. apparently the box of new oil costs 4 times as much as the old one, though.
Who really eats foie gras these days? Well, maybe around the holidays, but that's just about it.
Wasn't D'Artagnan the company that had a huge recall of their products some years ago because of extensive listeria contamination? Foie gras? No thanks, I'll pass.
Yeah trans thin, didn't you know that the right to kill a fetus is much more important than the right to eat duck liver? Sheesh...
Dude, I know somene already corrected you, but come ON. Ariane Daguin is a name that you should know if you are going to try and be a food journalist.
At least make some kind of credible pretense that you read someone else's blog post before linking to it. I'd like to count Gothamist among reputable food sources but you're making it difficult.
I'm all for a ban on trans fats, but this is ridiculous. Fur coats should be banned first.
It always amazes me how anti-choice trolls will try to bring their ideaology into any debate.
Foie gras = force feeding--and essentially torturing-- a sentient, living creature in order to manufacture a non-essential food product.
Abortion = an established medical procedure to remove a tiny mass of non-sentient, mostly undifferentiated cells hosted in a sentient human who does not require or wish it to be there, for the protection of said human.
See the difference?
lol Chris the Abortion issue is not that clearcut.
Dude?!? I am not a dude. And the mistake with the D'Artagnan link was due to an HTML glitch, but thanks for pointing it out. I am quite familiar with Ariane.
Let's not forget that the people who want us to stop "abusing" the Cute little geese, ducks, deer and bunnies have an ultimate goal of banning all animal foods and animal products. No milk or cheese. No honey. No eggs. No chocolate (contains milk).
Let these food Nazis take away one food, and they will have precedent to take away another, and another.
i do not eat foie gras - primarily for the simple reason that i do not find it appetizing. and it's terrible the force-feeding, true, but raising animals for food isn't far from that, you know. i'm no vegetarian, but did anybody see 'our daily bread' this weekend? horrifying, really, to be confronted with what you always knew was happening in the food production industry but didn't want to think about. i'm still eating meat (for now). i'm not saying foie gras isn't cruel, but i think it's bizarre to try to ban it and not try to call for the ban of all meat. some people eat meat, some don't. some people eat foie gras, some don't. i don't know.
Go force-feed a few ducks, then come talk to me about freedoms and choices. I am not anti-meat but c'mon folks. Go learn a little before you act so flip about it.
edEx- I'd say that your first post was a handy bit of trolling as well... and not your first, either.
THAT'S IT, MC DONALDS SHOULD INTRODUCE THE MC GROIS IF THIS SHIT HOLDS UP.... PLS . GOD HOW LONG UNTIL IT RAINS BLOOD AND FROGS?
Kojak, no the abortion is NOT that clear cut, but still. Look at it this way: it's an adult woman's choice to have an abortion or not. A duck that has had NO CHOICE is force fed and torturted for its entire miserable life. This is just about human beings imposing their will onto weaker animals and torturing them.
Thanks for your post, Chris. I liked it.
Sommelier, please don't be an alarmist. While the fair treatment of dairy animals is debatable, they are not blatantly tortured for their product. Ducks ARE TOURTURED for the foie gras process. Bees are NOT AT ALL tourtured to produce honey. Some vegans even eat honey since honey is their natural bi-product. Hope this helps squash a little of your "food nazi" panic.
it's an adult woman's choice to have an abortion or not. A duck that has had NO CHOICE is force fed and torturted for its entire miserable life. This is just about human beings imposing their will onto weaker animals and torturing them.
Why are you comparing the pregnant woman to the duck? It's the fetus that is being involuntarily killed. Look, I'm all for legalized abortion but I found the political ads this fall (I don't remember the candidate) with the rather hostile woman telling the camera "I know what's best for my body" more than a little creepy. Chris, if only all abortions were only for the safety of the mother.
@La Leone
"A duck that has had NO CHOICE"
Are you sure ? Did you asked the duck ?
No ?
Why ?
Yes good guess it is an animal...
A recent study of the blood hormones of duck that were force fed and other that weren't wasn't conclusive to find any trace of high rate hormones that could have shown any sign of distress...
Don't you think that projecting your own fear of beeing force fed maybe doesn't applied to an animal ?
can't we just force-feed ducks aborted fetuses? EVERYONE WINS.
There's nothing so compelling as vague, scientific statements with no citations.
Try reading Wiki or this report:
http://ec.europa.eu/food/fs/sc/scah/out17_en.pdf
This thread of comments is totally making my day! Foie gras. Abortion. Peta. I love it. Keep it up, folks. Bring the hate!
Meanwhile, I don't mean to be politically incorrect but I fucking love foie gras. It could be made from the hearts of a 1,000 little kittens and I would still think it was dee-lish-ous! Mea culpa, my friends, but how can anything that tastes so good be that cruel?
That being said, who do you think serves the best foie gras in NYC?
(I think it used to be Cafe des Artistes but the stopped serving it. Now, I like Picholine's.0
"Abortion = an established medical procedure to remove a tiny mass of non-sentient, mostly undifferentiated cells hosted in a sentient human who does not require or wish it to be there, for the protection of said human."
Yeah, and what "protection" might that be? The protection from being a responsible adult accountable for her own actions? Nice assumption that all abortions are done for the health of the mother.
Look, if you're going to be pro-choice, just admit you have no idea when that "group of cells" actually becomes a sentient human life, because you don't.
#16. it was my attempt at humor and since i post often on gothamist under this tag, i would hardly call any of my posts trolling.
A foie gras ban would be the most asinine, morally inconsistent food-related law to come down the pike since that bill passed banning the slaughter of horses in the US (sponsored in part by John Sweeney). All I gotta say about these legislators is WTF!!! I wouldn't put it pass them to ban pork after the next cute talking pig movie comes out rather than thinking about the real issues, such as the fact that industrial-scale meat production is inherently cruel.
For # 24
Yeah, and what "protection" might that be? The protection from being a responsible adult accountable for her own actions? Nice assumption that all abortions are done for the health of the mother.
I didn't assume any such thing; you did.
In this case, it means that the woman is protected from hosting an organism she does not wish to host. Having an abortion IS an act of responsibility: it's realizing you are unwilling or unable to carry a fetus to term, and taking care of it.
Look, if you're going to be pro-choice, just admit you have no idea when that "group of cells" actually becomes a sentient human life, because you don't.
And do YOU know? My stance is supported by scientific fact, is yours? There have been many, many studies conducted on this issue. According to medical journals, significant brain development in fetii doesn't even occur until the 20th-32nd weeks. Before then, movement is viewed as reflex reaction; not conscious response.
This is not about freedom issues for New Yorkers. It is about the most basic compassion that all living creatures deserve.
People around the world have spoken out against the cruelty of foie gras. In 2004, California passed a law banning the sale and production of foie gras effective in 2012, and Chicago banned the sale of foie gras in 2006. Foie gras production has also been outlawed in the U.K., Germany, the Czech Republic, Finland, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, and Israel.
To produce foie gras, a metal pipe is shoved down a goose or duck's throat and into their stomach. 6-7 pounds of grain is pressure-driven down the pipe, rupturing the bird's stomach or esophogus 10% of the time, leading to a very slow and agonizing death. Vomiting is often prevented by tying an elastic band around the bird's throat. This force feeding process takes place 3 to 5 times a day for a month, and transforms the normally 2 to 3 ounce liver into a 1 to 2 pound mass known as foie gras. As a result, ducks and geese at foie gras farms have trouble standing, walking, and breathing. Many of them die before the end of the force-feeding cycle, and the mortality rate for ducks raised on foie gras farms is among the highest in the farming industry.
As Abraham Lincoln said, "I am in favor of animal rights as well as human rights. That is the way of the whole human being."
I like how all the anti-abortion trolls are men. So typical.
Fellas, get pregnant and then let's talk.
foie gras is gross and pointless.
Foie gras is DELICIOUS!!!!
You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.
For the record, the Chicago city council is considering reversing the ban on foie gras because of all the bad press the city has gotten for this stupid piece of legislation.
what does it matter if the duck was force fed? in the end, the duck will die and we will eat it. if people feel such guilt, we should ban eating livestock and let them run free!
foie gras is really good though.
it would be so much easier to just ban rich people
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