Observer
French importer fights foie gras ban
Animal rights groups oppose the delicacy, which is made by force feeding ducks and geese

Colin Randall
Daily Telegraph

Saturday, May 21, 2005

CREDIT: Eric Risberg, Associated Press
Ceric Delmas with his flock of Moulard ducks at Sonoma Foie Gras in California.

GRAMAT -- A Frenchwoman is fighting to stop foie gras being banished from the high tables of one of its main foreign markets.

Ariane Daguin, an importer based in New Jersey, has emerged as a figurehead for the haute cuisine camp as it struggles against animal rights activists in the U.S. and Britain.

Daguin admits it is difficult to convince sceptics that the forced feeding of ducks and geese to fatten their livers and produce the delicacy is not cruel.

California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has already signed into law a bill outlawing production or sale of foie gras by 2012. New York politicians are expected to impose a similar ban.

This new spirit of intolerance is seen as an outrage by Daguin, who comes from seven generations of Gascony chefs, and Michel Belon, the commercial director of La Quercynoise, the co-operative in the Lot region of south-western France that supplies her company.

"I cannot believe that a country that values liberty so much would allow its people to be told what they can and cannot eat at the table," said Belon. However, Daguin, whose business, D'Artagnan, describes itself as America's leading distributor of foie gras, detects a broader agenda. "America should wake up to the fact that this is not just about foie gras," she said. "They are going after meat-eating in general."

Admirers of foie gras have long cherished its distinctive flavour, whether served cold as a starter or pan-fried as part of a main course.

To animal rights groups, however, the birds pay a heavy price to please diners.

In a process known in France as la gavage, ducks and geese are forcibly fed through funnels inserted into their necks for the last two weeks of their lives.
© The Vancouver Sun 2005