Recognizing that people have the right to eat what they want, Foie Gras stems from a fairly despicable origin.
God demanded that the Israelites not boil a calf in its mothers milk. The Israelites strayed from His Law, and were severely chastised by oppression form the Babylonians. Intending to appease God, some Jews decided to make His Law far harsher, and thus banned consuming any dairy in the same meal as meat. Thus, Jews were prevented from eating butter if they ate meat.
Seeking a loophole in such dietary restrictions, certain people (Judaizing Christian sects as well as Jews) popularized the use of fattened, swollen, distended goose liver as a substitute for butter, force-feeding the goose so that its liver became enormously fattened.
What was the purpose of Moses’ dietary laws? God simply seeking a sign of obedience? Disease-prevention? Ritualization of slaughter to prevent callousness towards violence? I’ve heard many arguments. But foie gras? Just use butter, dammit.
Interesting history. Thanks for sharing. I heard Michael Medved talk about the meat/milk deal one time on his show a long, long time ago. He basically explained it as you don’t mix milk (life) with meat/blood (death).