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These are dangerous times for ducks and geese in Chicago. Chicago is banning foie gras, a duck or goose liver delicacy made by force-feeding the animals. Some say it doesn't hurt the animals; others say it is cruel...

Chicago has banned the sale of foie gras in its restaurants because city officials think the French delicacy is cruel to ducks and geese. Under a city ordinance the ban will be imposed by September. Fines will range from 250 to 500 dollars for every day that a restaurant is caught serving the dish. "It's terrible!" chef Didier Durand, proprietor of Cyrano's Bistro and a spokesman for the Illinois Restaurant Association, told AFP. "In Chicago they banned smoking (in restaurants) now foie gras - what's next? Sex?" The ban is an attack on personal freedom and will lower the "gastronomic...

Last week the death knell was perhaps definitively sounded for a long European Jewish tradition and a thriving agricultural sector in Israel. Goose slaughterhouses and processing facilities in Binyamina and Petah Tikva told 200 workers they would be jobless by Pessah, as goose farmers too, brought their activities to a close, the Goose Farmers Association announced. "As of today [Wednesday] we're stopping," said goose farmer Yaakov Yosef, of Moshav Beit Yosef, who ran a farm with his two brothers and their families producing 60,000 geese annually. A government decision - which was finalized on February 22 when the High Court...

Sir Roger Moore has hit back at criticism from celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, who accused him of double standards over his campaign to put an end to cruel animal practices in the production of foie gras. Commenting on the campaign last week, Ramsay said, "I think it's a bit two-faced of old Roger. At the height of his fame he had no scruples about swanning round top restaurants eating fancy food, and now he's telling us we all have to be goody two-shoes. No thanks, Roger. It's not on." Sir Roger has now written an open letter back to Ramsay...

BOSTON -- Some advocates call force-feeding ducks to create foie gras from their tender livers unacceptable animal abuse that benefits only a small group of foodies. Others say it is a time-honored practice that produces a tasty treat with little harm to the animals. And both sides flocked to the State House yesterday to debate a bill filed by state Sen. Susan Fargo, D-Lincoln, for Massachusetts to follow California's lead and ban the sale of such pate created by force-feeding poultry. Although foie gras is produced in just three U.S. locations in California and New York -- through force-feeding in...

Celebrity chef Todd English could soon serve his last foie gras in Massachusetts. Following California's example, a group of state legislators aim to ban the sale and production of the culinary delicacy created by force-feeding ducks or geese so their livers swell and become, literally translated, ``fatty liver.'' "Inflicting pain on any animal is morally reprehensible. There is no excuse for this type of behavior,'' said state Sen. Sue Fargo, the bill's sponsor. She said a feeding tube is inserted down a goose's throat so workers can shove ``the human equivalent of 11 pounds of food into its stomach'' daily...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - California will end the force feeding of ducks, geese and other birds to produce the gourmet liver product foie gras by 2012 under legislation signed Wednesday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzengger. The bill will also ban the sale of foie gras in California starting that same year if it's obtained by force feeding birds. Schwarzenegger, who received pleas from several celebrities, including former Beatle Paul McCartney, to sign the bill, said it gives producers more than seven years to "evolve and perfect a humane way for a duck to consume grain to increase the size of its liver...

The Health and Agriculture ministries' branches in Ashkelon yesterday seized 80,000 cans of dog food that had been disguised as foie gras, as if fit for human consumption. The product, imported from Bulgaria by Fried Leonid and originally labeled "chicken for dogs," was given two different fraudulent labels: "Domestic Birds liver pate. Producer: S.E. Grenot, France" and "Pate foie gras. Producer: Lovmit General Toshevo." The Health Ministry has warned the public not to consume products bearing these labels. Shirley Deri, food engineer for the district of Ashkelon, said the products had not been distributed to food chains. The Health Ministry,...

Sir Paul McCartney has urged California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to ban the French delicacy foie gras. The former Beatle appealed to Mr Schwarzenegger in a letter to make California the first state to ban the pate made from geese and duck livers. Other stars, including Martin Sheen, Kim Basinger and Chrissie Hynde, also urged him to approve a bill to outlaw the sale and production of foie gras Foie Gras is made by force-feeding the birds to expand their livers. Sir Paul was asked to write the letter by animal rights group Viva!-USA. He said: "As you probably know, the...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Force-feeding of ducks, geese and other birds to produce a gourmet liver food product would be banned under a bill approved by the state Assembly on Tuesday. The measure would impose the ban beginning in 2012, giving the few farms engaged in the process time to find an alternative method for harvesting the foie gras - French for "fat liver." The Assembly voted 44-28 to approve the measure by Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, D-San Francisco, and to send it back to the Senate for a vote on Assembly amendments. Assemblyman Joe Nation, D-San Rafael, said...

<p>A proposal by a powerful Bay Area lawmaker could make California the first state to ban the production and sale of foie gras -- a move that would wipe the controversial delicacy from menus throughout this food-savvy state.</p> <p>State Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, D-San Francisco, is expected to introduce a bill this week that would virtually prohibit foie gras by essentially putting the Western United States' sole producer out of business while denying chefs ready access to the hyper-fattened duck liver.</p>

"If the extremists prevail, they will be taking a big step toward their ultimate goal of a vegan society," Sonoma Foie Gras farm owner Guillermo Gonzalez wrote in a letter to his fellow residents last week -- a prelude to yesterday's hearing on whether to ban the sale of foie gras (duck liver) in the Northern California town Gonzalez calls home. He?s absolutely right: a ban would only reward the violence and intimidation of animal rights fanatics. Gonzalez and his business partners have been attacked repeatedly. Thugs who oppose the raising of animals for food covered the home of Gonzalez?s...

SONOMA, Calif. (AP) -- Under attack by animal-rights activists, a prominent chef and his partners have promised to improve conditions at their farm, where they force-feed ducks to make the French delicacy foie gras. Laurent Manrique and his partners told the San Francisco Chronicle they will hire a French scientist who specializes in foie gras production to evaluate their farm near Stockton, east of San Francisco. "We don't have cages, true, but it is not enough," said Didier Jaubert, one of the partners. "There are sometimes animals who are sick, and they need to be taken care of right away....

ONOMA, Calif.The bas relief olive branches are finally dry on the Venetian plaster walls of Sonoma Saveurs, the latest temple to artisanal cuisine set to open on the town plaza. But do not be fooled: there is no peace here. Last month, Sonoma Saveurs was spray-painted and flooded by vandals because of a delicacy that will appear on its menu and in its store: foie gras, the fat-engorged liver of force-fed ducks and geese.Connoisseurs consider foie gras the epitome of culinary civilization. But animal rights activists who claimed responsibility for the destruction — and for an earlier attack on the...

Not long ago, only a few food connoisseurs and Francophiles in the United States had any notion what foie gras was. Now it is becoming downright dangerous to handle the stuff.Laurent Manrique, a top-flight San Francisco chef famous for his foie gras appetiser trolley, had his house spray-painted, his car splashed with acid and his garage door sealed shut with glue earlier this month, presumably by animal rights activists, although they did not leave a calling card.His business partner, Didier Jaubert, was also targeted with slogans such as "foie gras is animal torture" and "stop or be stopped" daubed on...

<p>A top San Francisco chef has become the target of radical animal-rights activists in a series of attacks that police are calling domestic terrorism.</p> <p>Aqua chef Laurent Manrique has been the victim of vandals who spray-painted his home and splashed his car with acid, and he has received threatening letters and videotapes.</p>