I only made the "diseased" distinction because I was called on what I think is a semantic point. One last thing before I bow out of this: quoting St. Francis of Assisi does not necessarily cross the line into religious kookery, or whatever it is that seems to skeeve people out here.

"I care not much for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it." ~Abraham Lincoln

(I'm sorry, am I doing it again?)

There is absolutely no definitive proof that gavage is cruel or inhumane. Anecdotal reports actually suggest that it is not.

Simply because any human being with an imagination is capable of projecting his or her feelings onto an animal doesn't make them a reality. Additionally, the very existence (and social accpetance) of omnivorism among humans renders those feelings irrelevant.

Mass-market, commercial pork and poultry producers use methods far more likely to be considered inhumane than foie gras producers. To the uninformed (e.g. the Chicago City Council), a line-caught fish, left to flap around in the bottom of a boat until it dies is merely a Rockwellian moment and somehow exempt from further examination. But foie gras, considered to be a "food of the rich," gets singled out -- an easy political target.

The members of the Chicago City Council are pandering for votes in precedent-setting and hypocritical way. Since the pork and poultry lobbies are strong, the council won't bother to pick a fight there (in spite of the irrational agenda-ists who whisper in their ears).

The distinction between foie gras production and other animal/meat production is such a fine one, it's not even worthy of consideration. As chef Tramonto said months ago, <paraphrasing> 'you either eat animals or you don't.'

=R=

Edit: typos

gp60004 wrote:Can u believe some people wanted to stop Illinois from building a slaughter house to slaughter horses (meat going to Japan with a former kentucky derby winner being one of the horses slaughtered). good thing that didn't so thru. Didn't want texas to be the only state slaughter them.

Anyone ever eaten horse meat?

Yes. It's very good.

Antonius wrote:

Vital Information wrote:

Seth Zurer wrote:. I asked about the last item on the tandoor menu, tandoori cham, and was told that it's horse ribs cooked in the tandoor, but that it wasn't available. Hmmm...

Would you eat horsemeat? I do not think I would. Besides dog (and house cat, but who eats house cat*), I cannot think of another animal I would not eat.

*No jokes, no rumours, no I heard I heard stuff...

Rob:

Back in the '80's I ate my share of horsemeat while living in Belgium (I've possibly mentioned this elsewhere: at the time, there was both a butcher shop that specialised in horsemeat and a restaurant that did so as well, the one on and the other near the Oude Markt in Leuven)... Poverty drove me to it but it is very tasty meat...

Now, when is that tandoori cham going to be available again?



A

(http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=34438#34438)

A nice horse-steak, pan-fried in butter, with fritjes on the side... Da's lekker.

Sorry for the digression but this foie-gras-brouhaha is giving me a crise de foi(e).

Though I've been enjoying this discussion, in an attempt to try to bring this back around to eating out in Chicago, can someone recommend which restaurants not of the 100 or so who signed some silly pledge that still offer foie gras on their menu? (We already know Cyrano's is one...)

For the record, I'm neither wealthy nor consider myself a member of the upper class, but I do happen to enjoy a good fatty duck liver every once and awhile, and all this talk is making me hungry for some.

Does anyone know what the proposed sanction is for serving foie gras? Is it a misdemeanor ticket or -- ahem -- a felony?

I can only imagine that if it is a ticket offense akin to a parking ticket that 99% of bistros and top end restaurants will simply go on serving it "off menu".

Janet C. wrote:Though I've been enjoying this discussion, in an attempt to try to bring this back around to eating out in Chicago, can someone recommend which restaurants not of the 100 or so who signed some silly pledge that still offer foie gras on their menu? (We already know Cyrano's is one...)

I've had good foie gras at Meritage and Avenues (under the old regime). The online menu for Meritage currently advertises a "Seared Sonoma Foie Gras [with] Peach Beignets and Maple Peach Emulsion" that sounds good.

Meritage Menu

polster wrote:eating monkey brains from a monkey that is just killed at the table is a delicacy in some f-upped country like Indonesia. I dont know if this practiced now, but I saw it maybe 10 years ago in some documentary. Should we be allowed to eat endangered animals because there lower on the food chain?

See as peoples perception changes and societial mores come abound the majority rule always wins. So the opinions of the majority should allways over ride the opinions of a minority for societies to move forward in a civilized lawfull manor. A majority of people believe that foie gras production is cruel and inhumane. The minority the wealthy upperclass food conesuers and the high priced restaurant tours disagree.

/polster

Got a great idea for you - Don't eat Foie Gras. Or watch fewer Faces of Death movies.

Hypocrite Alert:

The very best food and wine pairing I have ever had consisted of foie gras with a rhubarb coulis served with a pink rhubarb wine made by Lynfred Winery in Roselle. The pairing sprang Athena-like from the brain of Spiaggia's Henry Bishop, the Best Sommelier in Chicago. Incidentally, just today, he was included in Good Eating's annual awards dealie. If one were going to send off foie gras in grand style, this is the place to do it.

Yes, that's right, now that I have reached the summit of goose liver fabulousness, I have no problem denying its sublime pleasures to uninitiated diners by favoring the ban. Je m'accuse!

This may be a dumb question, but I have no idea how this city's government functions...

Assuming the city council does pass the legislation, is there any way for Daly to veto the bill?

It doesn't sound like he's in favor of it at all. If he can't veto, maybe he can at least throw a little weight around so it doesn't pass the full council.

Jeez....
Anyone else have REM bouncing through their heads...?

Talk about the passion
Talk about the passion
Empty prayers, empty mouths....

Another update:

Eatery vandalized after owner criticizes foie gras ban


Apparently Cyrano's was vandalized sometime late last night/early this morn, and they think it's related to Chef Durand's testimony on foie gras

delk wrote:Anyone else have REM bouncing through their heads...?

I do now, thanks.

"After hearing a Hollywood actress compare the production of a delicacy made from the livers of geese and ducks to abuses at a notorious Iraqi prison..."

Talk about political...

From the Trib, Did I miss the actress' name somewhere in this thread?

Food Nut wrote:Did I miss the actress' name somewhere in this thread?

Hotlips from M*A*S*H - Loretta Swit - certainly an acknowledged authority on accepted animal husbandry procedues.

jlawrence01 wrote: Or maybe they can address how Chicago Public Schools can graduate high school students that cannot complete a job application.

BTW, part of the reason for this is in 3rd-8th grade they consider 35% passing in promotion-based testing. You must only get a 35% on the reading portion of the test to pass 8th grade. The state removed the writing test completely. And, CPS just ignored the math portion because too many students were then eligible for summer school and/or retention. A student also cannot be retained for two or more years in grade school regardless of scores or truancy. It's called social promotion. Quack.

Chicago foie gras files:

A New Year's prix fixe a couple years back @ Wicker Park's Absinthe:

best dish by far: the seared foie gras with Door County cherry reduction.

so, so yum(double yum)

Don't forget the cured foie gras at Volo.

I was just thinking about it! Damn, it's good!

Hey everyone,

I know this is going to sound really strange, even crazy, perhaps, but I've come across a very interesting piece of writing which I feel I have to re-post here, especially given the weight and intensity of this whole Foie Gras debate. When I lived in Chicago, I would often go to spend some quiet leisure time at Goose Island (the piece of land, not the brewpub) to read or just sit and think. One day, I happened to make the acquaintance of one of the few remaining geese who frequented the island, an old-timer with more than a few miles under his wings and plenty of stories to share. I started seeing him every time I'd go to Goose Island, and bring bread and other treats for him to nosh on as he told me of his exploits from Canada (his home) to Florida (his migratory, second home) and every point in between. Well, it's been a long time since I'd heard from or thought about this handsome old bird, lovingly named Virgil "Gus" the Goose, until today. I got a call from a friend of mine who also got to meet Gus, and told me he had spotted him in Chicago, at an internet cafe, of all places. Somehow, he had gotten wind of the whole, heated Foie Gras debate here on LTH and decided, as he stopped in Chicago for a day or two on his migratory path down south, to actually try to post his story on the board!! My friend said he saw Gus dutifully, laboriously pecking away for about an hour with his bill and his gimpy webbed foot, only to see him give up just as he finished, apparently not being able to pick a suitable password for his account. Luckily, my friend raced into the internet cafe and saved his post, which he then e-mailed to me. Without further ado, I give you the rarefied, insightful words from my favorite bird, Mr. Gus da Goose. What he says just might surprise you...

***************************

Hi everyone! I just flew in from remote Ontario, and boy, are my wings tired!!

Quackedy, quack-quack, honk honk...!! Ahh, that one never gets old. Henny Youngman was an avid bird-watcher, you know. I miss the guy, too - we used to shoot the breeze at Aqueduct, and sometimes my buddies and I would "accidentally" be on the track at the wrong time and in the path of the favorite, clearing the way for Henny's longshot to come in. Always gave us extra bread for our help, and the whole-grain stuff, too, none of that Wonder bread crap. Ahh, the good old days.

Anyway, I caught this little debate going on here about my species and the one little piece of us that you guys love (although, if you wanna chew on an organ meat, I got somethin' for ya! Honk Honk!!!). I gotta say...

You humans are pretty goddamn silly. Listen, we gotta nice little operation goin here, you guys and us geese. We get to migrate down south every year in relative peace (me and the missus gotta nice little time share piece of lagoon-front property off of Brunswick, Georgia), impress you lame-brains with our fancy V formations (You joiks always make me laugh with your explanations for the pattern. Evolution, instinct... yeah, right. We decided on the V in 1932 at the convention in Miami Beach, in honor of Vic da Goose, the longest-lived and luckiest feathered SOB this side of Toronto. He was Capone's pet goose for a while, too... Ol' Alfonse would feed him some nice cannoli scraps out by the beach, and often say to his cronies, "I like dat boid...") and get to take a nice crap on a freshly waxed car (yeah, we geese know which ones they are... we're geese, but we got eagle eyes... HONK HONK!!!) or on some kid's head once in a while. In exchange, a few of us boids draw a lottery to see which ones of us get sent to the farm every year to get fat for a while and then give up the ol' pipe cleaner for you fat bastards to suck down in some kooky reduction sauce. Not a bad deal, especially when you see what goes on with our fine feathered (but really stupid) chicken friends, swimmin' in their own muck at the Purdue plant in Maryland (we boids call it "Duckau") or with the yearly Turkey round-up you guys do to honor all the Indians you killed. Yeah, good logic, homo sapiens... anyway, dis whole goose liver thing (or however you say it in Frog) is bad for business. Take away our nice, fat, juicy livers, and soon, people are gonna start thinkin "hey, what good are geese anyway?" Before you know it, no more goin south, no more free rides and easy livin at the racetrack infields, no more artsy-fartsy documentaries about us (yeah, yeah, I know... you called it "Winged Migration", I call it, "there's two hours and ten bucks I'll never see again...and we ain't exactly talkin about a lifespan of a tortoise over here...). Believe me, we geese got it good (especially that part you guys made up about our name meaning the same thing as a pinch on a girl's tuchis... HONK!!). Givin up some livers every year to keep the peace ain't such a bad price to pay, believe me (ever see how they Kosher kill a cow? I mean, I'm Jewish, and that even shkeeves me out...). So, if you stupid freakin humans can get together, have a vote, a town meeting, a war, whatever the hell it is youse guys do to make a decision for the species... let's let dis liver situation just quietly die down, ok? Believe me, I speak for da geese at large on dis matter. We geese will live to fly in V's and crap on cars another day. Ok, gonna get back up in the jet stream and high-tail it... there's a boat show in Hilton Head that I've been savin up all week for, if you know what I mean!! HONK HONK!!! Oh, and if you see that putz, Hungryrabbi, around, tell him he owes me 20 bucks and a semolina bread from D'Amato's for the Notre Dame-USC game. Notice how that ball seemed to get awfully slippery all of a sudden when Matt Leinart fumbled with 10 seconds left? Ever hear the expression, "like crap through a goose??" What, do I have to spell it out for you morons? See ya next Spring at Arlington and Go Sox!! (Though I must admit, I'm partial to the Yanks, what with Goose Gossage and all...) HONK!! HONK!!

-- Gus Da Goose

Thanks for passing that on. I think Gus has helped to put this whole thing into perspective (too much ______ perspective, some would say.)

Can someone compile a list of contacts to call at city hall in order to voice my complaints? I've looked around for one and can't find... I suppose I could look the people up individually, but I'm not sure who is most effective to notify of my concerns...

Contact your alderman. The measure is going to the full city council sometime soon. I don't have the details offhand.

It's hard to find the specific Chicago restaurants in this long thread which serve exceptional foie gras -- and this proposed ban helps me rationalize weekly excursions.

So far, I'm hearing Volo, Armitage, possibly Absinthe, anymore?

Well, I had excellent foie gras at Avenues but the idea of going there for a single dish (and expecting to find it) is sort of impractical. My recommendation for starters would certainly be Volo, where it is a signature dish and was at least still on the menu 3 weeks ago or so.

It might also be wise to talk to the mayor, since if it passes the full city council I do believe he'll have to sign or veto the ordinance. I believe he's already expressed his opposition to it, but it doesn't hurt to reinforce it.

Trotsky, other places include Avenues, Sweets and Savories, Cafe des Architectes, the Ritz Carleton's dining room, Hot Doug's (as a special), Tru, Rhapsody at Symphony Center, Scylla, etc.

It's on a ton of menus around town.

NoMi, Naha and Blackbird are three more that usually offer it. (Which bolsters my initial suspicion that the estimate of "12 or so" restaurants serving it cited in the articles was a big understatement. Don't La Sardine and other bistros often serve a foie gras appetizer?)

I've only had it once, at Boka, with a glass of muscat. It made me a believer. YUM! That meal at Boka was the best I've had in over a year.

I'm happy to say that I've had great experiences with foie gras (Tru, Crofton) and not so great (La Sardine). Just looking for favorite standouts in Chicago.

I had a fantastic dish involving foie gras at Tallgrass a few years ago. It was a perfect little potato pancake under a perfect halibut filet under a slab of melted foie gras, under shavings of black truffle.

It was really good.

kl5 wrote:NoMi, Naha and Blackbird are three more that usually offer it. (Which bolsters my initial suspicion that the estimate of "12 or so" restaurants serving it cited in the articles was a big understatement. Don't La Sardine and other bistros often serve a foie gras appetizer?)

Yes - I haven't been to La Sardine, but I've had some nice basic FG preparations at The Red Rooster, Le Bouchon, Bistro Campagne and (I think) Kiki's.