We feature duck foie gras on our menu every so often and every so often I hear a comment about how someone "will never eat foie gras, it is horrible what they do the ducks." I take a certain responsibility for everything we put on our menu, from our eggs and pork to our lettuce and foie gras. I want to know where it comes from, how it was treated, what diet it was fed and who the farmer is that is raising it. I want to be able to use as much as I can of that animal, if we can kill the animal we should be proud enough to use all of it (we use all the parts from the ducks that harvested for their foie gras, I wish more restaurants would as well). The luxurious duck liver is a little different from the other meats on our menu because there are only a few farms in the country that produce it. Fortunately for us there are two producers just across the border in upstate New York, Hudson Valley Foie Gras and LaBelle Farms. I tend to use Hudson Valley more than LaBelle simply because I feel it has a slightly richer flavor, but both farms are equally careful and humane in how they farm their prized product.
Hudson Valley Foie Gras is run by two gentlemen, Izzy Yanay and Michael Ginor. Izzay will happily take you on tour of his farm and show you his cage-free method of producing foie gras, all you have to do is set up an appointment. There is no force-feeding. You can actually watch as the ducks come running to the feeders at meal time, the same way my dogs get excited when they hear the food scoop scraping at their kibbles when it is time for dinner. I have seen the process in its entirety and it is hardly a scene worthy of being called cruel and inhumane.
Here is what I know. Foie Gras is a fattened liver from either a duck or goose. It is a naturally occurring process for these animals. In order to make the migration south for the winter, ducks and geese gorge themselves with a high protein, high fat diet. Their body cavity actually changes allowing for their liver to swell as large as needed. I completely understand that the size and richness of a completely natural foie gras and one that is farmed is drastically different. A farmed fattened liver is said to weigh twice that of a natural one. It is also said that a natural liver doesn't have quite the decadence that a farmed one has. I personally have never tasted a natural foie gras, I will let you know after I get my hands on one. It is no surprise to me that a farmed liver is that much larger and richer than a natural one, why wouldn't it be? Think of a wild boar and a farmed pig. Of course the pig is going to be fatter and have sweeter taste, the farmer is controlling what the pig eats, how often it eats and how much it eats. All the pig has to do is eat while a wild boar has to forage for his meals, in many cases traveling great distances and settling for whatever it can find.
I understand that ducks and geese were probably abused in the making of foie gras at some point and probably still are somewhere. Unfortunately, that can be said for a lot of meat. This is why it is important to get meats from a reputable source. I would rather not eat meat than eat meat that is not from a farm that raises their animals properly. Foie gras has an unfortunate reputation and for some reason it cannot shake it. No matter how "humane" the process becomes foie will always be looked at with disgust by some people (ignorance is not always bliss). At least that was my thought before I saw a video through TED. Dan Barber, the acclaimed chef from Blue Hill, put on an very interesting lecture about a "new breed" of foie gras. I could bore you to death on the lecture or I could let Chef Barber take it from here:
Soon (hopefully) foie gras can sit along side the other meats and be enjoyed without prejudice. I am starting to realize that I like things I have to defend, or at least things that are notorious under false pretenses. Excuse me, I am going to go hang out with my pit bull and eat foie gras while listening to Joan Jett's Bad Reputation...
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