![]() The force-feeding of ducks and geese dates back to 2500 BC: ancient Egyptian tomb carvings depict birds being fattened up by hand for the royal table. Yet this form of food preparation is as old as Western civilisation. The UK currently imports around 200 tonnes of foie gras a year but polls suggest the British public is overwhelmingly in favour of an outright ban, following similar legislation in California and New York. But I fail to see how eating foie gras in a restaurant such as Otto's on Gray's Inn Road, London, where the owner ensures the livers are from birds reared outdoors and fed by hand, is different from consuming any other ethically sourced meat. As with any form of meat production, there are foie gras producers who raise the bird under atrocious conditions on an industrial scale. But controversy surrounds its production, specifically the final 10 days of a bird's life, when it is force-fed to fatten up the liver to six times its natural size. I love it served as a savoury terrine contrasted with the sweetness of toasted brioche or crisped up with sticky pan-juices and meltingly soft within.įew meat eaters deny that foie gras is deliciously decadent. ![]() ![]() ![]() I adore its rich taste and silky texture. And yet there is a variety of luxury offal that is increasingly off the menu: foie gras, the deliriously rich, densely calorific goose or duck liver with an image that is more superbad than superfood.įull disclosure: I am a big fan of foie gras. Many nutritionists recommend that we eat one portion of liver a week to get our dose of vitamin A and iron. ![]()
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