Foie Gras

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Voici un article qu'A. Comiti m'a fait parvenir.

Il y a eu un reportage à la télé. C'est plate que la Coalition ne nous en ait pas informé.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060825/fois_gras_060826/20060826?hub=TopStories

CTV.ca News Staff

Foie gras, a French delicacy prized by chefs who say it melts in the mouth, is receiving a fond farewell in Chicago's culinary circles.

But animal rights groups argue that saying au revoir to the duck and goose liver delicacy is long overdue because it's a cruel product the world can live without.

This week, Chicago became the first jurisdiction in North America to ban sale of foie gras, French for "fat liver."

Making foie gras, pronounced fwah-GRAH, is a French culinary process dating back thousands of years.

Geese or ducks are force-fed kilograms of corn so that their liver enlarges up to ten times its normal size.

Restaurateurs, such as renowned Toronto chef Marc Thuet of Bistro & Bakery Thuet, say it's a popular item on their menus.

At his 80-seat restaurant, for example, Thuet can go through as much as 18 kilograms a week.



But animal rights groups contend the production of foie gras is simply inhumane.

"It is a cruel product when an animal is force-fed with a metal pipe forced down its throat and a progressively larger amount of food and corn (is) being fed to these animals so that they become sicker and sicker," Canadian Coalition for Farm Animals' Stephanie Brown told CTV News.

More than a dozen countries, mostly in Europe, have passed laws prohibiting the production and sale of foie gras on grounds of cruelty.

Chicago became the first city in the United States to impose a ban making the French delicacy a food of the past.

But it seems the illicit foodstuff may not go quietly into the night.

Chicago chefs, who have called the ban an attack on the rights of consumers, are fighting for foie gras in court.

The suit, filed by the Illinois Restaurant Association and one restaurant, argues City Council is making a foie gras faux pas.

Aldermen may agree that the production of foie gras is inhumane, but they can't prohibit its sale, because none of the force-feeding occurs anywhere near Chicago or even Illinois, the suit says.

Attorney Barry Rosen, who represents the Illinois Restaurant Association, said he expects to file a motion for a preliminary injunction in the next few weeks.

In a show of solidarity last Tuesday, a handful of restaurants that don't typically offer foie gras -- including one pizzeria and a hot dog joint -- served up a veritable foie gras feast.

From Chicago's famed deep-dish pizza to soul food servings in the South Side of the city -- many diners were offered the chance to try the outlaw pâté for the first time.

"We just kind of thought what City Council was doing was so ridiculous, that we kind of had to make a statement. All of my restaurant friends seem to be doing the same thing," Harry Caray's Restaurant manager Grant dePorter told CNN.

Harry Caray's restaurant offered a pan-seared foie gras and scallops appetizer ($14.95 US) and a Vesuvio-style main course pairing foie gras and tenderloin ($33.95)

The chefs say the ban will cost more than $18 million a year in lost sales, tax revenues and tips -- and may even discourage their peers from opening restaurants in the city.

"Whether the treatment of animals in Canada, France or New York leading to the production of foie gras is or is not humane is not a problem suitable for legislation by the City of Chicago, let alone a substantial Chicago problem," the lawsuit argues.

Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley urged the City Council to repeal the foie gras ban.

"Why would they pick this and not anything else? How about veal? How about chicken? How about steak, beef?...Where do you begin and where do you end? People say veal is basically cruelty to animals. I mean -- you could go on and on," Daley said.

"All of a sudden, you can question any type, basically, anything that can be served in a restaurant. The poor snails and the mussels and the shrimp. I could go on and on. The lobsters," he said.

But the ban's sponsor, Alderman Joe Moore, says the lawsuit is frivolous and the argument that foie gras cannot be regulated simply does not fly.

"We feel that this is a constitutional ordinance and an ordinance well within the city's power to enact," Moore told The Associated Press.

Chicago Department of Public Health officials, who are responsible for enforcing the ban, will mail warnings to first-time offenders and send inspectors with ticket books -- demanding fines between $250 and 500 -- for second complaints.

Animal rights activists say they hope similar bans come to Canada.

"There's about ten nations in Europe, as well Israel, that have banned foie gras ... These countries have recognized that this is something that we don't need. It's just a luxury item and a cruel item ... This is the way that we'd like to see Canada go as well," Brown said.

Thuet, however, doesn't believe that Canadian foie gras production in Canada is in the works.

"Here the farms are fantastic, they are clean, the birds are treated in the best way," he said.

One farmer in Quebec, which is one of the biggest producers of foie gras in Quebec, says a ban would be ridiculous.

Alain Dansereault says animal rights activists who consider the production of foie gras inhumane may change their tune once they see how it's made.

"It's simply because people haven't seen for themselves how it's made," he says.

Dansereault, who raises some 800 geese imported from France, says visitors to his farm leave reassured.

He says he cares for his geese, keeps their living quarters clean, and even plays classical music to help his geese digest the corn.

"If we torture them, we don't make foie gras," he said.

Some defiant chefs in Chicago say they will continue to serve the delicacy, whether or not they overstep the legal boundaries.

Didier Durand, chef and owner of Cyrano's Bistrot & Wine Bar, says serving foie gras in garnishes may be just one solution.

"On the check you won't see foie gras," Durand told The Associated Press. "You will see roasted potatoes, $16."

Not every chef agrees that foie gras should remain on the menu. One of Chicago's most famous culinary artists, Charlie Trotter, removed the delicacy from the menu at his namesake restaurant after seeing how it is produced.

With a report from CTV News' Genevieve Beauchemin and files from The Associated Press

[Animal 0]

Ahhhhhh c'est dommage qu'on n'aient pas été avisées !!!!!!!! Mais je crois qu'on peut le voir en vidéo... Je le regarderai demain ma belle Cé

[animo-aequoanimo 0]

Ok ! Do.