Foie Gras free essay sample

Not many people may know what foie gras is, but the controversy surrounding it has left an enormous mark in the culinary world. Foie gras is considered a French delicacy that is made up of the liver of a duck or goose that has been specifically fattened. The dish itself is not reason of debate, but rather, it is the technique that is used to create this delicacy. The fattening of the duck or goose is typically achieved through force-feeding the animal with corn. More specifically, workers are jam pipes down male ducks’ or geese’s throats up to three times daily and force as many as four pounds of fat and grain into the animals’ stomachs. This causes the bird’s livers to bloat and expand up to ten times their natural size. Due to their enlarged and heavy livers, many birds struggle to stand on their own and some even rip out their own feathers and eat each other out of stress. This sparks the argument of whether or not this is animal cruelty. Unsurprisingly, France is the leading producer and consumer of foie gras. But that does not necessarily mean that France is the only place where you can find and taste the controversial dish. In the United States, farms produce up to 340 tons and supply most of the domestic market where foie gras is sold generally through restaurants. The 340 tons come from only two companies in America; Hudson Valley Foie Gras, New York, and Sonoma Foie Gras, California. Normally, the French preparation of foie gras is done over low heat, due to the fact that fat melts faster from the traditional goose foie gras than the duck foie gras produced in most other parts of the world. In American and other newer preparations, commonly using duck foie gras, have more recipes and dish preparations for serving foie gras hot, rather than cold. In Hungary, goose foi gras is traditionally fried in goose fat. It is then poured over the foie gras and left to cool. It is eaten warm, after being fried or roasted, with some chefs smoking the foie gras over a cherry wood fire to enhance flavor. In other parts of the world, foie gras can be served in dishes such as foie gras sushi rolls, in various forms of pasta, alongside steak tartare, or even as simple as atop a steak as a garnish for the dish. The production of foie gras is what makes this dish controversial. The force-feeding procedure and the possible health consequences of an enlarged liver are both what causes people to question the production of foie gras. Many countries and other areas have created laws against force-feeding or even the sale of foie gras due to how it is traditionally manufactured. Modern foie gras production typically has the force-feeding process take place from 12 to 18 days before the slaughter occurs. The duck or goose is normally fed a restricted amount of corn mash through a tube inserted in the animal’s cuticle-lined esophagus. Because of the force-feeding process, foie gras production has been banned in some nations. Some members of the European Union, Turkey, and Israel have all created laws to prevent the cruel production of foie gras. Predictably, the foie gras main producers argue that force-feeding these birds are not uncomfortable for the animals and isn’t dangerous to their natural health. A key contributor to banning the process of foie gras has been PETA. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, otherwise known as PETA, is the largest animal rights organization in the world. There are more than three million members and supporters of this organization. The attention of PETA focuses on the four areas in which the greatest numbers of animals suffer the most intensely for the longest periods of time; on factory farms, in the clothing trade, in laboratories, and in the entertainment industry. PETA works through public education, cruelty investigations, research, animal rescue, legislation, special events, celebrity involvement, and protest campaigns. Among PETA and other active leaders to stop the production of foie gras, Temple Grandin stands out significantly. Grandin describes a foie gras farm she visited in France as â€Å"hideous. † Although she did not visit Hudson Valley Foie Gras in New York, her confirmed view is that if the ducks are aggressively evading the force feeder, this obviously indicates that force-feeding animals is cruel. Major cities and states in America have already made moves to prevent the production of foie gras. The first in the United States to voice out their opinion on the animal cruelty was Chicago. On April 26, 2006, Chicago City Council voted to make Chicago the first city in the country to outlaw the sale of foie gras. The ban makes restaurants and retail stores subject to a fine of $500 for selling foie gras. Another major state that has decided to ban the production of foie gras is California. The California foie gras law is a California State law enacted in 2004 that prohibits the force-feeding of a bird for the purpose of enlarging the bird’s liver beyond normal size as well as the sale of products that are a result of this process. This outlaws the traditional method of producing foie gras in California and the law will go into effect on July 1, 2012. As far back in history as 2500 BC, ancient Egyptians learned that birds could be fattened by forced overfeeding them, and soon began this practice regularly. Whether the Egyptians predominantly sought after the fattened livers of these birds as a delicacy remains unknown to this day. This practice of overfeeding birds eventually spread from Egypt to the Mediterranean. Although this process was practiced for some time now, it was not until the Roman period that foie gras began to be mentioned as a distinct food. Once the Roman empire was over, goose liver practically disappeared from European cuisine. The tradition was preserved by the Jewish and they carried this culinary knowledge as they migrated farther north and west to Europe. Because of the strict Judaic dietary law, Jews were not allowed to use lard or butter as cooking mediums. Jewish cuisine used olive oil in the Mediterranean, and sesame oil in Babylonia, but neither cooking medium was available in Western and Central Europe. The only option left for the Jews was to use poultry fat, which could be largely produced by overfeeding geese. Soon, the delicate taste and flavor of geese liver became very appreciated. Although foie gras may be considered a delicacy in France, it does not change the fact that the production of it is inhumane and wrong. There is a reason why all this controversy surrounds the small dish of foie gras. To force-feed living organisms is considered brutal torture, and multiple places all over the world have already took action against the practice of producing foie gras. I would not be surprised if by ten years foie gras be banned all over the world. This delicacy can still be appreciated by culinarians around the world, but one cannot turn a blind eye to way that it is produced.