Why I no longer eat foie gras

I was going to wait to post this until my article on foie gras is published in the May issue of Decanter but the violent attack on the Cambridge restaurant Midsummer House last weekend has brought foie gras abruptly back into the public eye again.

Decanter.com yesterday quoted me as saying “Is it right to fatten a creature to the extent that it can’t walk for the sake of a luxury product we don’t really need? Foie gras lover though I have been, I can no longer accept that it is and after my visit, quite contrary to my expectations, I’ve decided I won’t eat it any more.”

For the full account of why I changed my mind, despite visiting a quality artisanal producer whose standards are much higher than the average in the industry, you’ll have to wait till early April to see the magazine but there were two main reasons.

It wasn’t so much the force-feeding process - the ducks were positively greedy for the food - but the fact that they - and all foie gras ducks - are fed such a huge amount that their livers increase up to ten times in size and can no longer properly function. They are also confined in individual cages for the last fortnight of their life. I saw no evidence that they were suffering but the treatment they were subjected to was utterly unnatural.

I'm appalled at the violence which has forced Midsummer House to take foie gras off the menu. No right-thinking person could condone it but I also think public opinion is changing, as it has about fur and unsustainable fishing, and that we will see foie gras disappearing off more and more menus.

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