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The foie gras crackdown is beginning. The first restaurant in Chicago to receive a ticket - and a $250 fine - for "serving" foie gras was none other than Hot Doug's, a gourmet sausage store / hot dog joint. Well known for their eclectic menu, they serve up dishes such as "Gyros Sausage with Creme Fraiche Tzatziki, Kalamata Olives and Sun-Dried Tomato Feta Cheese" ($6.00) as well as "The Virgil 'the Turk' Sollozzo Italian Sausage: Leave the gun, take the sausage" which sells for $2.75.Restaurants all around the Windy City have been receiving warnings about serving the fatty liver since the ban went into effect last August, Hot Doug's certainly being no exception. In fact, they framed their warning letter with pride and placed it by the cash register for everyone to see. Many restaurants even threw caution to the wind over New Year's and openly served it, claiming the "holidays just wouldn't be the same without a little fattened liver."
Though the owner of Hot Doug's, Doug Sohn, doesn't have foie gras on his daily menu, he has continued to run specials that include the controversial product. On Friday morning he posted the daily specials on his website which included "Foie Gras and Sauternes Duck Sausage with Truffle Sauce Moutarde and Armagnac-Truffle Chicken Mousse" for $6.50. Not four hours later, before he even opened shop, the health department was on his doorstep, conducted an inspection, and issued the citation.
So what now? Doug Sohn will head to court in late March where he faces a possible fine of $250 - $500. Since he hadn't technically served any foie gras when the ticket was issued, it's hard to say whether the fine will stick or not. It doesn't sound like he is overly concerned anymore though:
"It's sort of at the point where I don't really care," he said. "If we don't serve it, we don't serve it. I hope people opposed to it are leading ethical and moral lives. And they better not be wearing leather shoes."
Sohn has since left for vacation in France, where you can be sure he is eating foie gras every chance he gets.
(thanks, dmnkly!)
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2-19-2007 @4:57PM Ed said... Doug is profiled in the "Contraband Cuisine" episode of Gourmet's "Diary of a Foodie" tv series, talking about foie gras and the Chicago ban. His segment was shot before the ban took effect.
In the Chicago area, this episode will air on WYCC (Channel 20) this Sunday afternoon.
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2-19-2007 @4:53PM dame said... I can legally abort a fetus, but i can't indulge on a gavage stuffed duck liver, go figure. Only in America.
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2-19-2007 @5:49PM B said... O'er the laaaand of the free...
This kind of thing is frustrating.
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2-19-2007 @8:25PM salsa said... This needs to go to the highest court in the land. We can legally buy meat from chickens, pigs, and cows raised in worse-than-GitMo conditions, not to mention ammo and cigarettes, but they ban goose liver... There needs to be a food equivalent of the EFF... would the ACLU be any help?
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2-20-2007 @12:44AM Adam said... They pull some fatty liver, you pull a sausage. They send one of yours to the produce aisle, you send one of theirs to the FREEZER CASE. THAT's the Chicago way.
My plan:
1. Make meat prohibitively expensive, or at least do something like a cigarette tax.
2. Use the markup money to enrich our thinned-out soil. Grow organic vegetables, incl. soy and other beans.
3. Launch new chain of food stores that present soy / other vegetable protein sources in a handy, tasty way.
put the markups toward
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2-20-2007 @6:54AM J said... Chicago needs to overturn this law. This is hands down rediculous. It's the epitome of what happens when ultra liberals gain control of a governing body- making laws that they really have no idea about to "protect" something that really isn't being harmed in the first place. So now the little guy gets penalized for something that isn't even wrong in the first place.
If this stuff keeps happening we'll have wackjobs like the previous poster talking about heavily taxing meat so that we are "protected" from eating it. You know what? Meat isn't bad for you, nor is the way some meat raised (though I'll concede that some meat is raised in less than appropriate conditions).
Though I have no problems with vegetarians and vegans, I do have major problems with anyone who wants to make their life choices, stupid or not, forced upon me.
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2-21-2007 @8:50AM Laurent said... Vive la résistance !!!
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2-27-2007 @4:35PM K said... I'm really surprised how many people find foie gras acceptable. The owner of Hot Doug apparently doesn't get it either -- the ban is not about going vegan; it's about animal cruelty. In order to produce foie gras, the geese are force-fed until their livers rupture. The slaughtering techniques for other animals like cows, pigs and chickens is strictly enforced to avoid unnecessary pain and suffering. Why should geese be subjected to especially cruel torture just so a handful of self-proclaimed gourmands can feel special.
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3-21-2007 @12:40AM Dmnkly said... "In order to produce foie gras, the geese are force-fed until their livers rupture."
K... this is NOT TRUE.
It is repeated again and again as fact, and yet the exhaustive report by the EU commission (which still recommended a ban) stated that they could find NO EVIDENCE that this occurs.
The amount of misinformation being circulated on this topic is maddening. I don't mean to suggest that you're intentionally spreading bad information, but I would urge you to do further research before stating such things as fact.
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3-21-2007 @4:40PM JMF said... K- I have to agree with Dmnkly. That is totally incorrect when you say "In order to produce foie gras, the geese are force-fed until their livers rupture."
The geese's livers do not rupture, EVER.
Gavage, the process of "force" feeding geese and ducks grain is not only painless, the poultry line up for their meal. Their livers do get enlarged. This is a normal, late summer pre-migration event that many migratory birds have as a way to store extra fat reserves for energy. This happens every fall whether they gorge or not. Whether they undergo gavage or not. Although with gavage the increase is greater. If the gavage is stopped the liver will return to normal.
The standards of slaughter at foie gras farms is higher than that at most other poultry and duck farms. The fact is that the owners and workers at foie gras farms are much more involved with, and interactive with the geese/ducks. They get much better care than any roaster in the market. I have worked on farms. I have been to foie gras farms. I strongly support humanely raised animals, sustainable agriculture, organic farming, CSA's, small family farming, you name it. I abhor how most poultry and beef, pigs, etc. are raised in the US. But I can honestly say that producing foie gras is not cruel.
Please tour one of the foie gras facilities and if after seeing how the geese and ducks are fed, handled, treated, etc. you still feel that it is a cruel procedure, then at least you will be able to make informed statements.
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