NYT Covers California’s “Adieu to Foie Gras”

An October 15, 2011, New York Times article has covered the impending ban
on foie gras sales in California, where several chefs are apparently staging
swan-song dinners in honor of the fatty fare. According to the Times, a law
signed eight years ago will in eight months make California the first state
to criminalize foie gras, fining violators up to $1,000 per day for serving the
delicacy to patrons. As a result, chefs like Ludo Lefebvre recently announced
“You Gotta Fight for Your Right to Foie!” events for fans to overindulge on duck
and goose livers one last time.

“I want people to have the freedom to eat what they want. Animal rights
people would turn everyone into a vegan if they could,” Lefebvre told the
paper. “Foie gras is one of the greatest ingredients, a French delicacy. I was
born and raised with foie gras. It’s like if you took kimchi away from Korean
people.”

While noting that a similar ban in Chicago survived only two months before
being overturned, the Times did not anticipate diners defeating the popular
measure anytime soon. But the law has apparently raised questions among
nationally recognized names like New York University Professor of Food
Studies and Public Health Marion Nestle, who questioned the logic behind
the ban.

“What’s being regulated here?,” she was quoted as asking. “You are denying
people the food that people in some countries have been eating for generations.
They don’t believe the process of fattening up the ducks or geese is
painful to the ducks or geese. I’ve seen the videos, and everyone says the
same thing: they all seem to run up to be fed. The question is whether you
believe that the killing of animals for food for people is acceptable. It’s a moral
judgment. You have an ethical slippery slope here.”