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Well, let’s face it, force feeding any animal by ramming a steel funnel into its beak and pouring in the corn—a process termed gavage in French—doesn’t bear thinking about, does it? And yet, the process is crucial to the silken textured liver we have come to revere and revile in equal measure. Indeed, if gavage is not involved, the French do not recognise it as foie gras at all, and connoisseurs argue that the birds actually enjoy it once they get used to it. Hmm.
The practice of force-feeding geese or duck to harvest a ‘fat liver’ dates back to ancient Egypt, and was certainly done by the Romans too. There is even a school of thought that argues the technique came to Spain via the Sephardic Jews before it reached France, which makes the story that follows all the more delicious.
French foie gras is certainly the most celebrated, and it’s probably fair to say that the French are the most passionate about it, while the Japanese are also big fans. But chefs elsewhere, and especially in the States, are increasingly dropping it from their menus. In Chicago, it’s been banned altogether, and York, in England, is threatening to follow suit. A restaurant in Cambridge, England recently took it off its menu, after attacks by animal rights organisations.
Both goose and duck liver can be used in the making of foie gras; the key is in getting the poor blighter to eat twice its body weight in food every day. Duck, in fact, is a better bet for intensive farming and accounts for 90 percent of foie gras on the market today, with most of that coming from Eastern Europe or Israel. However, because you can’t intensively farm goose, it’s generally considered to be superior.
Enter Eduardo de Sousa from Badajoz in Extremadura, who has a company called La Patería de Sousa, which has been making award-winning Iberian pork pâtés and duck terrines that are 100-percent natural and free-range since 1812. His latest venture into ethical foie gras—Foie Gras de Ganso Ibérico—treats geese in much the same way as his neighbours in Huelva make pata negra jamón: with patience, love and a diet that, frankly, I wouldn’t mind eating.
1/25/10 4:44 PM
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