In announcing that he had stopped serving the fattened livers of
force-fed ducks and geese at his world-renowned restaurant,
influential chef Charlie Trotter heaved a grenade into a simmering
food fight, and the Foie Gras Wars erupted. He said his morally
minded menu revision was meant merely to raise consciousness, but
what was he thinking when he also suggested -- to "Chicago Tribune"
reporter Mark Caro -- that a rival four-star chef 's liver be eaten
as "a little treat"? The reaction to Caro's subsequent front-page
story was explosive, as Trotter's sizable hometown moved to ban the
ancient delicacy known as foie gras while an international array of
activists, farmers, chefs and politicians clashed forcefully and
sometimes violently over whether fattening birds for the sake of
scrumptious livers amounts to ethical agriculture or torture.
"Take a dish with a funny French name, add ducks, top it all off
with celebrity chefs eating each other's livers, and that's
entertainment," Caro writes. Yet as absurd as battling over bloated
waterfowl organs might seem, the controversy struck a serious chord
even among those who had never tasted the stuff. Reporting from the
front lines of this passionate dining debate, Caro explores the
questions we too often avoid: What is an acceptable amount of
suffering for an animal that winds up on our plate? Is a duck that
lives comfortably for twelve weeks before enduring a few weeks of
periodic force-feedings worse off than a supermarket broiler
chicken that never sees the light of day over its six to seven
weeks on earth? Why is the animal-rights movement picking on such a
rarefied dish when so many more chickens, pigs and cows are being
processed on factory farms? Then again, how could the treatment of
other animals possibly justify the practice of feeding a duck
through a metal tube down its throat?
In his relentless yet good-humored pursuit of clarity, Caro
takes us to the streets where activists use bullhorns, spray paint,
Superglue and/or lawsuits as their weapons; the government chambers
where politicians weigh the ducks' interests against their own; the
restaurants and outlaw dining clubs where haute cuisine
preparations coexist with Foie-lipops; and the U.S. and French
farms whose operators maintain that they are honoring tradition,
not abusing animals. Can foie gras survive after 5,000 years? Are
we on the verge of a more enlightened era of eating? Can both
answers be yes? Our appetites hang in the balance.
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