The City Council yesterday passed a resolution commending the Animal Protection and Rescue League for "raising awareness of the cruel practice of force-feeding ducks and geese to produce foie gras." The resolution also "commends the many San Diego restaurants that have stopped selling foie gras."
According to www.foodgeeks.com, a website containing recipes and information on ingredients, foie gras is:
Foie Gras, literally translated from French as "fat liver", is the fattened liver of an overfed goose or duck. Long considered one of the world's great delicacies, foie gras has a rich, butter flavor that makes it stand apart from other poultry livers.
The controversy surrounding the French delicacy focuses on its production. According to the City Council resolution:
"Foie gras" or fattened liver is the artificially enlarged liver of a duck or goose that has been force fed twenty percent of its healthy body weight per day for two to three weeks. In order to be labeled foie gras, the liver must be five to ten times its normal size and nearly one hundred percent fat.
In practical terms the resolution is largely symbolic.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has already signed into law a bill which will make it illegal to sell or produce foie gras in California. The sale of foie gras was also banned in the city of Chicago in 2006.
