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NY Ponders Foie Gras Ban Like California's

by Ryan Fitzpatrick
DELICACY OR CRUEL PRACTICE?
A BILL TO BAN FORCE-FEEDING DUCKS IS EXPECTED THIS SESSION
February 6, 2005 Sunday

It has a flavor unlike anything else. It literally melts in your mouth. There are countless ways to serve it - steamed, grilled, salt-cured or fried. Served with a glass of Vouvray, a sweet white wine, it is a French experience.

It also has become highly controversial.

Animal rights activists say foie gras (pronounced "fwah grah") is produced by torturing ducks and geese, which are force-fed to fatten their livers to several times their natural size.

The force-feeding practice, known as "le gavage" in France, involves inserting a tube into the bird's esophagus to pump corn into its stomach twice a day for two to four weeks.

State Assemblyman John McEneny, D-Albany, plans to introduce a bill during the current legislative session to ban the force-feeding practice. He has introduced similar bills in the past unsuccessfully, but his spokeswoman, Dawn Dugan, said he may have a better chance this time around because Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a similar bill into law in California in September.

Yann Guigne, chef and owner of L'Adour Restaurant Francais in downtown Syracuse, and other champions of the delicacy, say "le gavage" is not torture. They say animal rights activists imagine what it would be like for a human to be force fed, but that a duck's anatomy is different. Ducks swallow their food whole and naturally gorge themselves before migrating, they say.

Guigne says foie gras is an important part of his culture.

"We are here to give a piece of our tradition," he said. "When people come to L'Adour, people come to France as well."

Only two farms in the United State produce foie gras exclusively - Sonoma Foie Gras in California and Hudson Valley Foie Gras in Ferndale.

California's law takes effect on July 1, 2012. The language for McEneny's bill has not yet been hammered out, but Dugan said it will probably provide a lead-in time of about 10 years before a ban is put into effect in New York.

"This would give time for the farm to convert to a regular poultry operation," Dugan said. "Everyone has concerns. You don't want to close down a New York industry."

Michael Ginor, co-founder of Hudson Valley Foie Gras, said the legislation would do just that.

"Whoever passes this bill is going to look a little silly," he said. The only thing McEneny will accomplish is closing down a tax-paying company and putting its employees out of work, he said.

McEneny first pushed the bill after being contacted by a lobbyist for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Dugan said.

Ginor said he is resigned to the impending legislation because animal-rights groups have a much larger lobbying operation than the foie gras industry. He intends to cooperate with the government in drafting the legislation to minimize damage to his business.

The process requires him to employ more than 200 workers at his farm. If he converted to a regular poultry farm, he said, he would need only 10 to 15 employees.

Allowing 10 years for the legislation to take effect would give foie gras farmers time to research more humane methods.

"If they were to find a way to do this any other way, we would," Ginor said.

He added that stopping the operation in New York will not stop the practice of gavage. Much of the foie gras served at places like L'Adour is imported from Canada or France.

"We know the Canadian people are going to keep doing it," said Guigne. "They do a good job."

California's law bans both the production and sale of foie gras. Dugan said New York's legislation will probably only ban the production technique and not touch on the issue of imported foie gras.

Guigne, a native Frenchman, said he cannot fathom a ban on foie gras in his home country.

"You know what it would be to tell an American that they can't have Coke anymore," he said.

Israel was once the world's third-largest foie-gras producer, behind France and Hungary, until its highest court outlawed the practice in 2003. Germany, the United Kingdom and Switzerland have done the same.

Recipe: Foie gras crostini with truffled apples

Simmer black truffles diced for about 15 minutes in just enough butter, cream and a touch of Sauternes or Semillon to cover the truffles. Slice and sautee crisp green apples briefly in this sauce, about a minute - there should be a bit of crispness left in the apples. You want the end result to have little liquid. Serve on mixed spring greens, such as frisee and baby oak, with rounds of poached foie gras and crisp crostini.

Source: Bay Gourmet
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