California chefs join forces to fight foie gras ban

sfgate ^ | 04/30/2012 | Paolo Lucchesi

[dennisw]

Gracing the front page of the Sunday edition of the San Francisco Chronicle was this report on how over 100 of California’s best chefs (with more surely to come) are joining forces at the 11th hour to oppose the July 1 statewide ban on foie gras.

Read the article for the full story, but in short, the chefs are proposing the strongest farming regulations in the world to set a standard for foie gras production, instead of creating a black market. Led by the GGRA, the chefs are hoping to find a sponsor in legislation to overturn the ban. Expect further coverage on that when/if it develops.

As evidenced by the hundreds of comments, it’s an issue that people are passionate about. Will restaurants live or die by foie gras? Of course not. But as the chefs quoted in the article point out, there’s more to the issue than economics. It’s not only about choice, but about setting standards, about California becoming a world leader in farming ethics, and about setting priorities.

Due to space restrictions in the print edition, we couldn’t run the full charter or the chefs that have signed it. But we can run it here:

[Steely Tom]

Does anyone know what it actually tastes like?

I've had it, served by someone who knew how to serve it, and served several kinds so they could be compared.

It's extremely delicious. The closest thing I can compare it to is the first time you have ice cream, as a child.

It's ice cream for grown-ups. It's extremely rich, with many layers of taste. Creamy, peppery, meaty. It tastes good, smells good, feels good. Dangerously delicious.

[dennisw]

As a group California chefs are some of the most progressive people on the planet.

Alice Waters is one. A famous pushy lesbian (pleasant looking though) who runs Chez Paniss. Right when Obama was inaugurated she started to pressure the White House to have a garden and serve only healthy food and push a health eating initiative much like what Moochelle is doing these days

LMAO when Tony Bourdaine called her "Pol Pot in a Muumuu"

[trisham]

Who knows? Perhaps they are beginning to catch on.

[clee1]

I LOVE braunshweiger!

[ken5050]

You can always eat the kosher version..aka chopped liver..but the secret to really good tasting chopped liver is in the schmaltz ( chicken fat )...

[dennisw]

I have not eaten Jewish style chopped liver in eons. Wikipedia says it can be made from chicken beef or calf livers. Fois Gras seems like a better product because it comes from duck and geese who are raised and fed exactingly, who lives are dedicated to growing a liver that is fantastic when turned into fois gras.

Whereas the Jewish chopped liver is just a by product of chickens or beef. Kosher being better of course

[goat granny]

I use to swear that I would never eat escargot, but it was delicious served in the shell with tasty juices...Raw oysters took a few drinks to get one down, but also tasty when sucked off the shell, again with tasty juices, fresh from the Chestapeake bay that morning...

[hinckley buzzard]

It's basically liverwurst only from geese. One of those ridiculously overrated foodstuffs just because it's from France.

[boop]

What I finally figured out is that escargot only tastes good because it's cooked in garlic butter and usually topped with puff pastry.

Pretty much ANYTHING would taste good prepared that way.

[goat granny]

I didn't know about puff pastry but your right that would be flavorful....I ones I ate were cooked(I think roasted or maybe deep fried....Served in the snails shell and you got it out of the shell with small fork. the flavor may have been in the butter and whatever else they put in the juices...

I picked it as an appetizer, ( our friend was paying the bill and when someone tells me to order anything I want, I take them at their word...those snails were expensive

[Cincinna]

FOIE GRAS

Foie Gras us one of the most delicious things in the world. I prefer the goose, but the duck is great too. The mousse de Foie GRAS is less expensive, and very good.
Dartagnan is an American company started by the daughter of a very famous French chef. All their products are wonderful, and they are great people to deal with.
Here in NY, many markets carry their products, but if you are not near a place that dies, the selection on their website is even better.

http://www.dartagnan.com/

[miss marmelstein]

All bad things start in California. And I speak as someone who doesn’t really like foie gras all that much. Wait until Bloomberg gloms onto this!

I buy D’Artagnan ducks when I have the urge to roast a duck.

[Little Ray]

Foie gras is delicious!
I never thought I’d like it, but I tried a bit, just to try something new. I had to restrain myself from devouring the entire thing.
And it is nothing like potted meat.

I glad the People’s Democratic Republic of California is protecting the People from the evils of foie gras. (More for us!)

[jpsb]

Had to look this up

French for "fat liver") is a food product made of the liver of a duck or goose that has been specially fattened. This fattening is typically achieved through gavage (force-feeding corn), according to French law,[1] though outside of France it is occasionally produced using natural feeding

Yall can have it!

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Cincinna.