Meanwhile, this: While I was over at Apartment Therapy's Kitchen (it's a pretty new site... I love it), I spotted this article from NYT:
Chicago Prohibits Foie GrasIf you're following the foie gras issue, you know that California has already enacted a ban on its production, which calls for the several-times-daily forcefeeding of ducks and geese to make their livers fatty. Not a nice life for a duck or a goose, to be sure. And I don't advocate forcefeeding. However, targeting foie gras is, in my opinion, pretty lame (and you'll see in the article, even Chicago's mayor is less than thrilled by this taking the spotlight off of, oh, urban violence and poverty).
The City Council voted Wednesday to make Chicago the first city in the country to outlaw the sale of foie gras, the fatty livers of geese and ducks that many consider a delicacy but animal rights advocates describe as a product of inhumane treatment.The ban, adopted on a vote of 48 to 1, makes "food dispensing establishments" — restaurants and retail stores — subject to a fine of $500 for selling foie gras. The ordinance, which takes effect in 90 days, will be enforced by means of citizen complaints, said Joe Moore, the alderman who sponsored it.
Now, before anyone goes dumping buckets of red paint on me, hear me out. First of all, the mayor of Chicago has a solid point about prioritizing. This is low-hanging fruit.
And what of farming in general? Cities aren't passing legislation prohibiting the sale of factory-farmed chicken. And we're only just getting around to making sure that farmers don't feed cows other cows.
I have yet to develop a position on foie gras. I've never eaten it, as I'm not a particular fan of offal in general (though I do know that foie gras would taste radically different from the mutant bovine liver I had the displeasure of eating at a truckstop in France or the cow lung I confronted in Morocco). I'm interested in how this progresses. Could it herald better farming practices across the board? I somehow doubt it, but that won't stop me from hoping.
3 comments:
I was considering posting something on this as well.
I am somewhat conflicted, on the one hand the process from which foie gras is made is extremely cruel-on the other I'm not sure it's the city's place to be regulating a legal cuisine.
I also don't know how I feel about an ancient culinary tradition possibly becoming extinct, but then, it is rather barbaric.
but where do you draw the line? foie gras? veal? chicken?
Right, well that's the hard part. The cuisine is technically legal, as terrible as it is. And I'm not sure that hormone-fed, genetically altered chicken that never sees the light of day has a less cruel existence.
Post a Comment