Eating meat a matter of taste
California's so-called foie-gras ban, which would stop the force-feeding of
birds, raises the question of how our food gets from farm to table.

By Scott Joseph
Sentinel Restaurant Critic

November 1, 2004

Foie gras. It's often one of the costliest items on a menu -- $16 to $18 for
an appetizer portion isn't unheard of -- but when it's done right, it's
worth every cent. A slice of foie gras, simply sauteed, has a texture that
makes butter seem tough and a taste that is at once both earthy and sweet.

Connoisseurs say it's delectable. It's extravagant. It's the epitome of
haute cuisine.

And soon it will be banned in California.

Foie gras (pronounced fwah grah) is French for fat liver. It is the liver of
geese or ducks, though most often in U.S. restaurants it is duck liver, from
birds that have been force-fed grain.

It's a touchy subject that brings up the question of how meat-eaters deal --
or don't have to deal -- with the mechanics of getting food from the farm to
the table.

Most would rather not think about that chain of events, thank you, and
please pass the turkey. We have others do the dirty work and serve as
executioner while we reap the rewards. The closest many ever get to the
process is at a seafood restaurant's lobster tank when we point to a
lobster, which is then whisked out of our sight to be killed and cooked.

It's the feeding - not the killing - of geese and ducks that's at the heart
of the current foie gras controversy. When the ancient Egyptians feasted on
foie gras nearly 4,500 years ago, the delicacy was a natural result of birds
consuming extra grain before migration. That extra grain enlarges the liver,
increasing its fat content and giving it a buttery texture.

The current process involves placing a tube down the bird's esophagus and
pumping in a corn mash. Animal-rights advocates say it is cruel and
inhumane. Producers say that because ducks and geese have no gag reflex the
tube causes no harm.

In September, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, at the initiative of
celebrities and animal-rights advocates, signed a bill that will make the
production and sale of foie gras produced by forcefeeding illegal in that
state beginning in 2012 unless producers can find a new way to gras the
foie.

Drawing a line

Is there such a thing as compassionate butchery?

Some people simply draw a line. Folks who have no problem ordering a big
juicy steak will reject a piece of veal because of the common practice of
confining calves to small crates to limit movement.

Ines Hojer says she loves meat and serves and samples a lot of it in her job
as a server at Epcot's Biergarten restaurant. But ever since she saw a
documentary with explicit pictures of calves in slings she has shunned veal.
She also won't eat lamb.

"I don't eat babies," she says.

But she has no problem with steaks from mature cattle.

"At least they've lived their life for a while."

Most vegetarians disagree, although you'll find varying degrees of
dedication to their meatlessness. Some people who identify as vegetarians
will eat non-red meat. Others will not eat red or white meat but will allow
seafood to creep into their diets.

Vietta Robinson, an Orlando resident who works at a Chamberlin's Natural
Food Market, says she stopped eating meat partly for conscientious reasons.

"The Bible says 'Thou shalt not kill' and yet we kill all these animals,"
she says. But Robinson admits that she sometimes has a piece of salmon.

More committed vegetarians will adopt the practice of not eating anything
that has to be killed. So they allow for dairy products and eggs. But the
Humane Society of the United States will tell you that egg farming is
inhumane to hens, often cramming hundreds of birds into cramped spaces. New
guidelines that will soon go into effect will require each hen to have at
least 67 square inches, a space smaller than a sheet of 8-by-10 paper.

So on the extreme end of the issue you'll find vegans, such as Bryan Wilson
and his wife, Carla.

"We eat no animal product, purchase no animal products," says Wilson. That
means no meat, eggs or dairy product, of course, and even honey is not
allowed. It also means no leather shoes or belts and even no silk ties.
Silkworms have rights too.

Cotton and polyester are the fashion choices of vegans, and for food there
is mostly soy, says Wilson. Orlando restaurants such as Garden Café and the
bluntly named No Blood No Bones serve soy products that are processed to
mimic the taste and texture of meat, chicken and seafood. At No Blood No
Bones a soy product called tuna is wrapped in seaweed, and a chicken
drumstick features soy molded around a stick of wood.

Some meals could be served to an unsuspecting meat-eater without them
realizing it is not an animal product.

Michelle Williams, who works at No Blood No Bones and follows a Rastafarian
way of life, says, "A cow doesn't eat meat so why should we eat a cow?" She
also believes that the foods we eat trigger diseases, and that by following
a vegetarian regime she will stay healthy.

But she stops short of going totally vegan because she eats honey. When
asked why she simply says, "I like honey."

Fight isn't over

Those who love foie gras will be watching to see if California's impending
ban will spread to other states. Besides California's Sonoma Foie Gras,
there is only one other major producer in the U.S., Hudson Valley Foie Gras
in Upstate New York. Co-owner Michael Ginor, who will be at Epcot's Food and
Wine Festival this week, says he is trying to educate New York legislators
about the process, which he says is not inhumane.

"People don't understand that ducks have a different anatomy than we do,"
says Ginor. "They have a calcified esophagus." But he admits that anyone who
might witness the procedure or see pictures might think the fowl were being
harmed.

Animal-rights advocates, including celebrities Paul McCartney, Martin Sheen
and Mary Tyler Moore, lobbied the governor and celebrated California's ban
as a victory. The owner of the Sonoma Foie Gras considered it a victory as
well, telling media at the time that he would use the years before the ban
goes into effect to show the production is not harmful to the birds.

The thousands of ducks and geese who will be subjected to the practice
between now and 2012 had no comment.