De Sousa opts for goose for his foie because they are naturally greedy and so they’ll happily keep eating as long as you keep feeding them. This begs the question: why the funnels in the first place? De Sousa’s geese live on a diet of figs, acorns and olives that results in a spectacularly silky, smooth and flavourful pâté. They are ready for slaughter, he said, when their bellies drag on the floor.
In nature, geese naturally fatten up around the time that they would migrate, between Christmas and February, and de Sousa follows the seasons accordingly. The livers never reach the size of their French brothers, and the French are unlikely to recognise it as ‘real’ foie anytime soon, but they did give de Sousa’s foie the prestigious ‘Coup de Coeur a la Innovación’ at a Paris International Food Salon recently.
It was a somewhat controversial decision for Marie-Pierre Pé, the general secretary of the Comité Profesional Francés de Productores de Foie Gras, who commented afterward that de Sousa’s product could not be called foie gras, but should be sold under the appellation of mousse de foie.
The bottom line is, de Sousa’s geese seem a fairly happy bunch, compared to say Kobe cattle, which are kept in often quite horrendous conditions, European battery farmed chicken or, indeed, any other mass produced meat. The liver may not be as ‘fat’ as those of French geese, nor perhaps as silky, but there’s an awful lot to be said for knowing the food on your plate hasn’t suffered too much to get there. A 90-gramme can of Foie Gras de Ganso Ibérico costs €23 and is available from the gourmet food store at El Cortes Inglés.
Much about foie gras is assumed, exaggerated and sensationalised. While not all farms are created equal ethically, in the case of foie gras the end product itself is so valuable that the majority of producers treat their stock like golden geese.
In France, an ethical charter, to which most professionals subscribe, has been drawn up to regulate animal welfare so that it is in line with consumer expectations.
Preferred species for the production of foie gras are Mulard duck and Landes goose. The birds are free to roam at will until ‘fattening’ starts, when the bird is about 12 weeks old. This process lasts for just under two weeks in the case of a duck, and for just under three for geese, which are bigger.
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