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Foie gras back on the menu

Foie gras fans in Chicago won't have to slip into 'duckeasies' to indulge in this delicacy anymore.

The Chicago's city council has repealed a prohibition on the sale of the fatty duck and goose liver dish, making it legal to sell foie gras.

"It's fabulous!" said chef Didier Durand. "Break out the champagne!"

Durand has been a vocal opponent of the ban on the French delicacy and, like a handful of other renegade restaurateurs, got around the ordinance by serving it for free.

"Yes, I was a duckeasy," he admitted furtively, nervous about potential problems with a pending liquor license.

The word is a play on Chicago's famed "speakeasies" which secretly sold spirits during the 1920-1933 Prohibition era when alcohol sales were banned in the United States.

"We also had a club called Turtle Soup where people were handing (us) turtle business cards and that meant they wanted foie gras," Didier said.

The French delicacy, made by force-feeding ducks and geese so their livers become enlarged, has been the focus of an intense international campaign against animal cruelty.

Chicago's ban followed a bill introduced in California in 2004 that bans the sale and production of foie gras by 2012.

Mayor Richard Daley has repeatedly called the ban "silly" and said it made Chicago "the laughingstock of the nation" but was, until now, unable to convince council members to repeal the ban.

The repeal passed over the shouted objections of the ordinance's original sponsor by a vote of 37 to six after a council member forced it out of committee.

Alderman Joe Moore said he objected to the fact that the repeal was passed without debate and said he continues to support the ban despite the ridicule.

"It's a form of abject cruelty," he said. "I felt and I still feel it is important to speak out against such forms of cruelty. Chicago's ordinance did just that. Unfortunately it was a step back for civilization."

Pro or against a foie gras ban? Tell us what your think.

It's Disgusting Those poor animals. It's inhumane and sick. - CJR   Get Oprah involved! I can't imagine why the queen of talk-TV is allowing this to happen right under her nose. Come on Oprah - what about this crusade for a change! - Kylie   Its available in Pretoria!!! I had the Fillet Foie Gras at that fantastic new place in Brooklyn KREAM. It was fantastic. I haven't had proper Foie gras since 2001 at Tour de Argent in Paris but it was well worth the wait. I'll be there again tonight. To all you tree huggers. Foie gras is a delicacy that is worth the suffering of others and that is that. Why not moan about chicken being forced to lay eggs? I'll have the foie gras starter tonight and think about you when the aftertaste lingers so slightly. - Happy muncher   Anti When people ask me "what is foie gras" I usually answer with one word: "Grotesque". It speaks volumes of people who are okay with oohing and aahing and stuffing their mouths with something that is grotesque. - Nikki Botha   Disgusting Thanks for reminding me, happy muncher, how absolutely cruel and inhumane humans can be. To take pleasure out of the suffering of another being makes you the lowest of the low. It makes me wonder about your compassion to others, even humans. - Lejane   Saddened It's so sad that people think they can detach themselves from suffering by exaggerating their callousness, as if it's somehow un cool to show compassion to other creatures. It's people like 'Happy Muncher' who are actually plagued with the most guilt about what they do. I pity you, you silly little person. - Aragorn Eloff   Happy Muncher is a sick individual What a sick person you have to be?!?How you can you NOT care about the suffering of animals? Chickens laying eggs are NOT the same thing, it is a natural process like giving birth!!! Force feeding a duck with a steel pipe, while it is bleeding and crying is NOT normal or natural. Luckily in klife the wheel turns Happy Muncher.... - NO Foie Gras - SICK   not all foie is force fed There are humane farms that allow the geese to eat as much as they want. When they are humanely slaughtered the livers are graded and the overeaters that have distended their livers are graded foie and the others are sold as normal goose liver. If you have a problem with traditional methods but love the taste, you now have a choice. - tim   Think before you type Happy Muncher. You call people who oppose suffering tree huggers? What about people who oppose violence towards children or women? Extremists too? You're a thoughtless glutton aren't you! Foie gras is not a delicacy, it's a bloated liver. Cruel and gross! - Jackyl   foie gras "Tree huggers"?? If you can't tell the difference between a tree and a duck, you should rather call yourself "Happy Moron", not "Happy Muncher". Laying eggs is a biological function of hens; force feeding ducks is a cruel act, committed by cruel people! - Beryl   How can HUMANE and SLAUGHTER be in the same sentence? Think people THINK!!! Can you be gently raped or kindly murdered? No! Slaughter is not humane - animals don't want to die so they can be eaten full stop. There's no humane anywhere in there. Dumbasses. - Jacky   happy muncher Our choices in life define us - choosing to knowingly eat the product of terrible, pain suffering and torment, that also results in the starving of thousands of other people (44 million birds consume 840 tons of grain a year - how many humans would that feed) is an interesting choice. I do have an alternative name other than 'happy muncher, however as a polite pacifist I shall refrain. For the record, there is no such thing as humane Foie Gras - by it's very nature it must contain at least 85%fat, something that will never happen naturally. - Toni Brockhoven   Happy muncher aka the oxygen thief Happy Muncher, how would you like to kept prisoner somewhere and be force fed like those geese? We have reached a point in our history where, due to dwindling natural resources and the human population explosion, we all should be more compassionate and sensitive towards natural resources and other living things. - MR67   happy muncher - what a plonker To delight in the suffering of others and to brag about it puts one on the league of the Hillside Stranglers - they also took pleasure in the pain of the others, and it is fact, it is but a step from a duck, to a dog, to a human... You mother must be so proud of you. - aka vivacious vegan   Say what? Tim - humane slaughter? In my humblest opinion, this is a COMPLETE oxymoron. If you mean humane death, then I would say it is only NOT an oxymoron if a sentient being is killed because there is no quality of life left. But then again, it won't be humane anything, it would just be plain old euthanasia. - Nikki Botha   foie gras I like Tim's post. Naturally obese geese, what a lovely picture! - taurus   Foie Gras scum Although the subject says it all, anyone (and especially "Happy Muncher") who takes pleasure out of the suffering of another being is the lowest of the low, and deserves no consideration. - Wayne   happy moron To excuse cruelty to one creature by pointing out the cruelty to another is more than stupid. Battery chickens is also cruel. How do you explain the process to your children? Do you mind if they practise on the family dog? Hey it's the same thing, Man am I glad I live in Africa - it's banned here. - cheryl   foie gras Happy Muncher, just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, you come along! - Ingrid   Opinions Truth is most animals bred for food are subjected to cruelty in some form. So unless you are a vegan or fruitarian that doesn't wear leather shoes or make-up, those which crit foe gras are really quite hypocritical. To those which are vegans - I believe its also about respecting peoples choices. Unfortunately food doesnt have many rights, and this topic will always be controversial. - Womble   Oprah Shmoprah She'd never put her duck on the block over a contentious issue like this. Oprah is only ever concerned with the popular vote, and an issue like this demands that she stand against it. Besides. Oprah digs her food :) - lip service   Reply to Womble Womble, I think you'll find that most of the people who have replied are in fact vegan as they recognise the hypocrisy of chastising foie gras producers whilst wearing leather shoes or eating eggs or drinking milk. As for respecting choices, this simply doesn't apply. Extend the logic of 'each to his own' into the human realm and you'll see why personal choice is NOT a valid defense when exercising one's taste in a way that has an impact on others. If I defended cannibalism through recourse to the personal choice argument, you'd laugh, surely....why is it different when the affected party is not human? - Aragorn23   Phooey foie gras People may have the right to "choose" to be cruel, but they don't have the "right" to be cruel! Foie gras is gross!! - Duck-U   You have to earn respect! Womble, you make a good point but how can I respect people who believe it's okay to eat dead things, who think nothing of slaughter, who are indifferent to suffering, who don't give a damn about a sentient creature being butchered? - Jackyl   Jackyl I'm a card carrying omnivore, I eat dead things and I'm not ashamed of it. (What do you feed your cat and dog, which are essentially carnivores?) That said, I will stand up against cruel practices in the producing and slaughtering of animals. I also don't eat live oysters. - taurus   Alzheimers/CJD anyone? Researchers from the University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine, in collaboration with a group from Uppsala University in Sweden, have found a potential link between foie gras consumption and the development of a number of amyloidogenic diseases. The findings are published online this week, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The amyloidogenic diseases include Alzheimer's Disease, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD), tuberculosis, diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis. But hey, enjoy your foie gras, and the consequences - Colleen       Name Email Subject Comment