Foie Gras: a Disease, Not a Delicacy

Former James Bond star Roger Moore, now 83 years old, has created a YouTube video on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals showing cruel treatment and torturous force-feeding of ducks and geese to create the culinary French delicacy foie gras. Literally translated, "foie gras" means "fatty liver." The birds are force-fed through long tubes to fatten their livers, a procedure that gives the birds a liver disease similar to cirrhosis in humans. After three months of force-feeding, the sickened geese are killed for their swollen livers. Fattened goose liver sells for around a hundred Euros a pound in France, and more during the holidays. Foie gras farms, and the force-feeding of the birds is so cruel that many countries around the world have banned it, including Israel, the United Kingdom and Switzerland. In 2004 California Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger signed a bill prohibiting the production and sale of foie gras in the state of California. But many restaurants still serve it, including the Belgian fast food chain Quick, which will be offering its French customers a hamburger served with a slice of foie gras in the days leading up to Christmas. Quick notwithstanding, Moore's video has had some success. It persuaded British department store Harvey Nichols to remove foie gras from its fancy restaurant menu.


Many thanks for this article: it is astonishing that people are still willing to eat this disgusting product, the result, as you point out, of force-feeding ducks or geese to the point that their livers swell to these outlandish, diseased sizes. The birds are also immobilised in tiny cages for weeks whilst the process takes place, and females (in this case) are discarded at hatching - i.e. gassed, ground up alive or simply dumped, since their livers do not serve the purpose.
The fact that the production of foie gas is illegal - given the extremely low bar - in various countries should alert consumers to what is involved - and the fact that celebrations apparently still indicate to some consumers that their palates must be tickled, regardless of the cost to intelligent, sentient beings is truly lamentable at this stage of human development.
Thanks again for publicising the campaign.

goes to show you what people would do for a buck...
Poor duckies, and geese.
