Super Chef vs. Governator: Todd English Fights For Foie Gras Rights

By JULIETTE ROSSANT It was in the San Francisco Chronicle last week and the New York Times this morning: the food police are out in California. In fact, food police in California were out in full force last week, supporting Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ban on the force-feeding of ducks and geese for the production of foie gras and on the sale of foie gras made from force-fed birds. California SB 1520 doesn’t go into effect until 2012, but then it will impose a fine of $1,000 a day on violators. According to The Boston Herald, super chef Todd English asked the Governator not to sign the ban. "I told him not to be the Terminator of foie gras," the Herald reported of English. (For previous entry on this chef, see "Todd English: American Chef - Gone Wild.") Is foie gras production really so bad? I am not squeamish about much in any cuisine. My motto is, try whatever is best and most popular in any particular culture. In Kazakhstan that meant horsemeat was on the menu. In Turkmenistan I tried camel’s milk. In Lebanon I feasted on raw lamb liver and fat. All these food products are made from animals raised for food, typically in a manner used for centuries. The horses for slaughter are not pets, any more than most 4H calves end up as veal scaloppini. Force-feeding ducks for just two to three weeks in a centuries old tradition to produce a delicacy leaves me with few if any pangs of conscience. On the other hand, I do support sound regulation of the food industry. I saw for myself first-hand the devastation of the Caspian sturgeon industry that went unregulated after the fall of the Soviet Union. I have researched contraband caviar in Azerbaijan, in Astrakhan (Russia), and Moscow and have seen the toll it took on depleting fish stocks. I support any ban on Caspian caviar until these stocks are replenished. In the United States we sorely need better regulation of the cattle industry, and not enough has been done since the discovery of mad cow disease here. So why are legislatures wasting time on foie gras? Much of the best foie gras I have eaten has come from D’Artagnan, so I ask co-owner Ariane Daguin what she thought of California’s new law. Turns out she had been circulating a petition to urge Schwarzenegger not to pass the law and resist the animal rights activists (e.g., PETA) and nascent food dictators from getting their way. Ariane wrote to me to explain: Based on the natural animal tendencies of geese and ducks to overeat in order to survive during the winter or during long migratory flights, our ancestors, the Egyptian farmers invented foie gras. Foie gras is a food which has been produced traditionally, throughout generations, by people who live in harmony with nature and animals, as respected links in the ecological chain. The tradition of foie gras has been perpetuated and developed in certain regions of France, such as Alsace and the South-west, where the preservation of food in fat was vital to feeding the population. Today, in the world, more than 60,000 families rely on this tradition to survive. They have every desire to ensure the welfare of their animals -- only strong, healthy geese or ducks produce good foie gras. A foie gras is the healthy liver of an adult animal raised outdoors. It should be noted that the liver of a duck or goose which returns to an ordinary existence will gradually recover its initial weight. These changes do not affect its physiological functions (study on reversibility -- INRA, 1994). Some people believe that the increased feeding takes place over a long period of time during breeding. In fact, it only lasts about two weeks and consists of a gradual increase in corn intake, two or three times a day, depending on the species. This process does not stress the animals, as demonstrated by a recent study (INRA 1995). There is a minority of people against force-feeding. Mostly members of PETA, this group is against any form of exploitation of animals: milking cows, having dogs and cats as pets, using rats to find a cure for cancer. Their battle is not to stop foie gras, their aim is total dictatorship on what we eat. I support Ariane in urging Californians to help make sure that this law is overturned and does not set a precedent in the rest of the country. Instead, let's turn our attention to sturgeon caviar (click here to read up on US import/export details). Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, foie gras, California --> back to superchefblog