"Ethical" foie gras

'Ethical' foie gras from naturally greedy geese
By Jasper Copping and Graham Keeley, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 12:25am GMT 18/02/2007


Traditionally, it involves force-feeding birds to fatten up their livers, a process that has made it one of the world's greatest gourmet delicacies but also one of its most controversial.

But British gourmands are now to be offered an "ethical" version of foie gras, allowing them to savour the famed taste with a clear conscience.

The product, it is claimed, sidesteps accusations of -cruelty because it is not made by force-feeding birds.

However, the "ethical" foie gras does not come cheap, selling at £16 for just 2½oz (70g). The same amount of traditional foie gras costs £10.

Animal rights supporters in the UK have recently turned up the heat on foie gras consumers, as they consider force-feeding to be cruel.

Ben Bradshaw, the animal welfare minister has urged the public to boycott it, councillors in York tried to make the city the country's first foie gras-free zone, and an animal rights group has launched a campaign against restaurants and shops that sell it, threatening them with protests and boycotts if they do not cease.

The new version avoids the process known as la gavage - force-feeding birds with grain by using a metal tube - by allowing geese to stock up on extra food naturally in preparation for their normal winter migration to Africa.

They are slaughtered once they have fattened themselves for their expected long flight south.

To the annoyance of many French producers, the "minimum-cruelty" product, which is produced in Spain, has already won the Coup de Coeur, a prestigious award from the Paris International Food Salon and has attracted the attention of British stores.

Eduardo de Sousa, whose company Pateria de Sousa, produces it, said: "We've had interest from a number of leading stores in Britain since we won the prize.

"There has been a lot of interest from people, because it is ecologically produced. Buyers are coming over from England shortly. It is more expensive compared to the traditional way of making it, but our foie gras is the real thing, from fattening the geese naturally. The French producers are just jealous."

Because the geese are fattening up for migration, this form of foie gras, called Ganso Iberico, can only be produced once a year.

This is usually before Christmas but because of a mild winter in Spain, the geese are only being slaughtered this month.

Harrods is among the British stores interested in stocking the product.

"This has only just been made available but our buyers are always looking for new products," a spokesman said

Fortnum and Mason is also considering the delicacy.

"Our buyers are aware of it and have heard very positive things about it," a spokesman added.

Although the production of foie gras is banned in the UK, the British remain among the world's largest consumers, with 4,270 tons sold every year.

At his Maze restaurant, in central London, Gordon Ramsay serves the delicacy veined with smoked eel and accompanied with fingers of hot ginger brioche.

His restaurants are among dozens threatened with boycotts and protests by animal rights group Viva!, whose patrons include Sir Paul McCartney and his estranged wife Heather Mills.

It has enlisted Miss Mills to head the campaign and is calling on its members to stage protests and demonstrations against the targets that do not stop selling the product.

The group has already prompted the supermarket chain Lidl to withdraw the product from its shelves, as well as some restaurants, including the Valley Hotel, in Ironbridge, Shropshire.

However, the issue has already attracted the interest of some of the more extreme elements of the animal rights movement.

Adrian Valentine, who runs Dordogne Direct, a firm which imports foie gras, said that he had received "abusive" emails but would continue to offer the products.

"These people have such preconceived ideas that they often don't know the full process involved. Battery chickens have an absolutely horrific life, while foie gras is a natural product," he said.