Sacramento restaurants find loopholes in foie gras ban

[Baclava]

The Sacramento Bee - The state's July 1 ban on foie gras was supposed to prevent the fatty goose or duck liver from being served at California restaurants. Instead, foie gras has become more popular, and enforcement of the new law has been nearly nonexistent.

Sacramento chefs and others from around California are exposing loopholes in the law, making foie gras fairly easy to find in restaurants despite its blacklisted status. You can find it served at such restaurants as The Kitchen in Sacramento, where foie gras is treated as a complimentary item – not officially for sale and technically, some say, not illegal. "There's more interest in foie gras now than ever," said Randall Selland, executive chef and owner of The Kitchen. "If you ask to try it, we'll let you have some. It won't be on the menu and there's no extra charge."

Other California restaurants offer expensive orders of toast that come topped with "complimentary" foie gras. That's the case at downtown's Restaurant Thir13en, which serves a $21 brioche toast that's paired with complimentary seared foie gras and a foie gras panna cotta.

Violating the law can result in a $1,000 fine, but no restaurant in Sacramento county has so far received a citation for serving foie gras. The law states that animal control or peace officers are qualified to issue citations, though no complaints or inquiries have been received by Sacramento County Animal Care and Regulation.

http://www.sacbee.com/2012/07/25/4657480/sacramento-restaurants-find-loopholes.html

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well ain't that special

[dkf]

1. If they are serving it at no cost they aren't even making a profit.

That is just a "screw you" to the government.

[ret5hd]

3. $21 toast with "complimentary" foi gras

wink wink. Even you aren't that blind.

[LisaL]

8. Then that's one mighty expensive toast.

LOL.

[Baclava]

22. toast and jam? - $28

"St. Helena's Goose & Gander, which has a goose mascot named Fergus, currently offers a foie gras dish listed as "Senate Bill 1520. "The $28 dish includes a "torchon of Fergus" with bing cherry jam and toast."

[NewMoonTherian]

41. And rightly so.

The law is obnoxious, and the government has earned that "screw you".

[Scuba]

2. It's laws like this that give credence to the R's "nanny state" meme.

[Capt. Obvious]

4. Laws preventing a cruel and inhumane practice = nanny state?

Banning large sodas - now that is nanny state.

[Scuba]

5. How is eating liver a "cruel and inhumane practice"?

Agreed on the large sodas.

[joeybee12]

9. It's how they're fattened up...force fed...it's cruel

no doubt about it.

[Brother Buzz]

11. Depends on who you listen to

Foie gras producers maintain that force feeding ducks and geese is not uncomfortable for the animals nor is it hazardous to their health.

[Luminous Animal]

14. Of course, that's because duck & geese can talk and they say, "No problem!"

[joeybee12]

25. Good phucking lord...

Yeah, the people who make money off this can be trusted...try listening to groups concerned with animal welfare...I repeat, good phucking lord...I can't believe you posted that s**t.

[Brother Buzz]

36. Perhaps your sarcasm radar needs a slight adjustment

Fup Duck. Ya get it? Fup...Duck. - Grandaddy Jake, Fup by Dodge

[joeybee12]

40. Ok, but I can hardly be totally blamed...

With some of the stuff that's been posted here as of late...point taken.

[Scuba]

15. You're referring to raising/slaughtering issues, not eating.

[Beringia]

20. If you eat the foie gras or serve it

you are involved in the practices of how it is raised. Without someone buying it, there would be no practice of the cruelty to begin with.

[Scuba]

21. Pardon my ignorance, but is it not possible to raise the geese as humanely as, say, chickens?

Cannot foie gras be harvested from such birds?

Or is eating chicken also taboo?


Sincere question; my knowledge of foie gras is limited to a few bites (delicious).

[joeybee12]

27. No...raised humanely they are not fat enough...

They have to be forced fed and fattened in a relatively short span of time.

[Scuba]

28. Thanks. A quick google search seems to support that position.

[Beringia]

32. They are fattened up as fast as possible and then killed

"The an­i­mals are fed two to four times a day, for about two to three weeks."

"Af­ter the force-feed­ing, the liver has en­larged to about six to ten times the orig­i­nal size. At big foie gras farms, the an­i­mals are held in ex­tra cages in which they can­not move, and the en­larged liver causes breath­ing prob­lems. It pushes on other or­gans, so the an­i­mals are of­ten in pain and can­not move any­more."

And then they are killed.

[gregoire]

31. How is protecting children from a lifetime of obesity

nanny state? It isn't. It's common sense.

[msanthrope]

46. Obesity in America is caused by foie gras? nt

[gregoire]

48. Trouble following discussions?

I was replying to the post that made fun of sensible legislation to control the distribution of sugary drinks.

[4th law of robotics]

7. It offends some people, others had the freedom to choose differently

and they didn't choose how that first group wanted them to. What recourse was there but to force the second group in to compliance using the law? The alternative, living knowing someone else is doing something you find immoral in a private setting far from you in a manner that in no way affects you, is just too horrible to imagine.

[Chan790]

29. Yes, without the sarcasm. n/t

[el_bryanto]

6. Good for them n/t

[Baclava]

12. Prohibition just makes the beer taste sweeter, eh?

[el_bryanto]

17. It's a foolish law, but then prohibition was too.

And making maryjane illegal has proven foolish as well.

Bryant

[Scootaloo]

33. It's not a foolish law, actually

The idea is that a tube is forced into the stomach of a goose, and it is fed a constant diet of grain mash. It's literally piped through the bird. The end result is that the goose's liver can't handle the "diet" and becomes diseased and inflamed. The animals are immobilized to prevent them "working off" any fat or, you know, bumping into something and causing hteir own swollen organs to rupture.

And then they serve that liver in a restaurant for astronomical prices. The profit goes back to the people shoving pipes into geese, and the process begins anew.

The idea of the law is to cut out that part - making the torture of a bird lucrative. The only "foolish" part is the lack of enforcement.

[Baclava]

43. OK - give me weed and a Hawaiian pig roast instead, is that still legal?

foodie-porn-fatty-goose livers leaves me cold, to each his own I guess

[redqueen]

10. Wow. I never knew cruelty was so popular here.

Not even the undercover kind... the in your face, part of an accepted practice kind.

[Beringia]

16. I agree

People feel very safe making any kind of comment when it comes to cruelty to animals on DU. If it is humans, they dare not say such outright cruel things.

Animal rights has not become mainstream or politically correct yet to rein in people's expression of their thoughts about cruelty to animals.

[Scootaloo]

34. Funny that it seems to be the same posters, time and again

[frylock]

42. assholes are oftentimes proud and ignorant

[pinboy3niner]

37. Oh, you're probably one of the same nannies who opposed torture in human interrogations, too

[flvegan]

44. One of the more ugly aspects of this place

when the issue is raised.

[Beringia]

13. Someone who goes to the restaurant should call in a complaint

"Foie gras is produced by force feeding ducks or geese with a funnel and long tube to create an engorged liver, a process known as gavage. Though foie gras has deep roots in France's culinary traditions, gavage has been outlawed in a number of European countries."

"The law states that animal control or peace officers are qualified to issue citations, though no complaints or inquiries have been received by Sacramento County Animal Care and Regulation."


How awful. Hopefully someone will call in a complaint and the restaurants get called on this.

[el_bryanto]

18. Does all Foie Gras require Gavage ?

And if not (and I don't believe it does) - why not ban gavage rather than foie gras.

Bryant

[petronius]

23. There are attempts to do so, relying on the natural pre-migration gorging

that the birds engage in - http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1919163,00.html

It sort of makes sense that there's natural foie gras, the only way I can imagine the delicacy was discovered in the first place is someone eating a duck or goose right before it migrated...

[Beringia]

26. Without gavage, there would be no foie gras

It means creating a diseased fatty liver in a short period of time called hepatic lipidosis.


article - France
To­day, the fat­ten­ing process takes place as fol­lows: af­ter sev­eral weeks in­side a build­ing, liv­ing on straw, the ducks and geese are kept out­side and mainly eat grass. Af­ter­wards, the force-feed­ing starts. The an­i­mals are fed two to four times a day, for about two to three weeks. The amount of food fed rises from about 250 grams at the be­gin­ning to 1000 - 2000 grams per day at the end of the process, de­pend­ing on the size and weight of the an­i­mal. To achieve this, a cone with a long tube is in­serted into the oe­soph­a­gus through wich the feed is piped. Each feed lasts for 2-3 sec­onds (us­ing mod­ern tech­niques such as a pneu­matic pump) or 45-60 sec­onds (us­ing tra­di­tional meth­ods). Af­ter the force-feed­ing, the liver has en­larged to about six to ten times the orig­i­nal size. At big foie gras farms, the an­i­mals are held in ex­tra cages in which they can­not move, and the en­larged liver causes breath­ing prob­lems. It pushes on other or­gans, so the an­i­mals are of­ten in pain and can­not move any­more. At the fi­nal stage, some ducks use their wings to move them­selves, as their body is of­ten so heavy that it can't be held by their feet any­more. Plus, many of them suf­fer then the com­mon fate of cage birds: nat­ural preen­ing be­hav­iour is not pos­si­ble, and the in­abil­ity to move causes open pres­sure sores and res­pi­ra­tory dis­tress. Then, they are slaugh­tered.

http://www.europeandme.eu/8heart/442-foie-gras

[el_bryanto]

30. Hey I can google too

So what’s natural about natural foie gras? Well, he takes advantage of the goose’s natural reaction when the weather turns cold, at right about this time of year: the geese naturally gavage: they gorge on everything around them, storing up calories for the winter. Just like me. A very simple idea. Eduardo slaughters the geese at the end of this period of natural gavage, and he gets a liver that he claims is better than foie gras.

. . . He designed the fence for the geese, a paddock that he moves around the property so that they are always feeding on fresh grass. It was something I’d never seen before, and I thought it was brilliant. The inside of the fence is not electrified, but the outside is. When I asked him about this, he said, “When my geese feel manipulated, they don’t eat as much because they’re not happy, but if I give them everything they want, they are happy, so there’s no reason for them to leave, and they know it. They feel more comfortable just knowing they are free to go, and they eat more. There’s no need to electrify the inside of the fence whereas electrification of the outside protects them by keeping out predators.”

http://neweconomicsinstitute.org/publications/articles/barber/dan/a-perfect-expression-of-nature So I guess you can have Foie Gras without Gavage.

Bryant

[Beringia]

35. Well if he allowed inspectors

in and they saw how they were raised, then maybe he could get a pass for selling them. They are raised en mass in Europe.

[el_bryanto]

38. Not in Sacramento - in Sacramento the crime is selling Foie Gras as I understand it

without much regard to how it is produced.

Bryant

[Baclava]

45. Well, that article gave the names and address of those restaurants....why doesn't somebody call?

I give you, local politics usually prevail.


just curious

[msanthrope]

47. Yes. For true foie, you need gavage, otherwise you just get a fatty liver.

That's delicious, but foie gras is sublime.

The force feeding takes a few seconds, and because ducks and geese don't have a gag reflex, and their throats can expand, it's pretty efficient. My family always did ducks, since geese can be really nasty fuckers.

You end up using every piece of the duck, too...so very little waste. Same thing with the pigs.

[Zalatix]

24. Indeed. This is war. Economic war.

[kctim]

19. Good for them!!!

[cbayer]

39. Bravo.

And those that talk of the inhumane practices best be vegetarians, because the production of foie gras pales in comparison to what they do to chickens and cows.