Foie Gras War: Bird Flu!

By JULIETTE ROSSANT A quick news sweep reveals that the Foie Gras War -- the war to ban foie gras due to the pain inflicted upon fowl by the process of gavage -- continues unabated. In Israel yesterday, where conflict with Palestinians makes daily headlines, the High Court of Justice still makes time for geese -- and yesterday, ruled against the Geese Growers Association, ordering an end to gavage with the immediate slaughter of 57,000 geese, a cruel victory for Let the Animals Live and Anonymous for Animal Rights, reports The Globe. Back here at home last week, the Humane Society asked the Food Network to take foie gras off the air. The Humane Society singled out re-runs of Iron Chef because of its "Battle Foie Gras" episode. Their request should prove relatively easy to comply with, as the Food Network moves further and further away from Fine Dining into lower-cost ingredients and dishes and shows a la Rachael Ray. It's not that foie gras is gone or even going. It is still a norm in Fine Dining. The New York Times still talks about it as an important part of Fine Dining, as in this recent article about David Kinch, or this article about home dining. In Washington, DC, at the National Gallery of Art, foie gras lollipops were served as part of a fete for the largest-ever Dada exhibit, reports The Washington Post. No, the joke on anti-foie gras activists is that they may find their banning efforts moot and, worse, the public mood swinging back for foie gras -- as the Asian Bird Flu (or "Avian Influenza") begins to ravage duck and geese stocks, making foie gras rare. According to The Financial Times (also, Print version), the European Union (urged by France and the Netherlands) is already planning bird flu vaccines limited for 900,000 ducks and geese in three high-risk risk areas, "including the Landes region that is a leading producer of foie gras." So, despite (or, from Mother Nature's viewpoint, perhaps to spite) the costly, exhaustive efforts of anti-foie gras campaigners to humanize gavage through celebrity endorsements and the gorey, bizarre, and often brilliant poster campaigns (e.g., PMAF and Animauzine) of activists, we may soon see a foie gras hunger roll through the world as never before. Soon, we may be seeing gorey pictures depicting vicious flu-murders of foie-gras-producing geese and ducks, while the rich endulge in a little gavage themselves on scarcity-priced foie gras. Previous articles - Bird Flu: Bird Flu Death Count Passes 50 in Asia Food Vermin -- Bird Flu, Next Course? Previous articles - Foie Gas War: Foie Gras War: Liver is for Lovers Foie Gras War: Rocco Saves Seals Gordon Ramsay v James Bond Foie Gras War: Voodoo and Vigilantes Foie Gras War: Chicago Slaughterhouse New York Times on Foie Gras Before STORE WARS: The Meatrix Foie Gras War 2: Ban All Poultry? Foie Gras War From Boulud's gourmet hamburgers arise... delicate Philly cheesesteaks? Super Chef vs. Governator: Todd English Fights For Foie Gras Rights Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging, foie gras --> back to superchefblog