Michelin restaurant drops foie gras after protest vandalism February 21, 2008
Jo Iivonen
A Michelin-starred restaurant has been forced to remove foie gras from its menu following violent protests by animal rights activists.
Midsummer House in Cambridge took the delicacy off the menu this week after protesters vandalised its premises. The restaurant remained closed on Monday while repair work took place.
The Animal Liberation Front (ALF) claimed responsibility for the attack, which included gluing the restaurant's door locks, damaging windows with glass-etching fluid and spraypainting slogans such as 'Stop Selling Foie Gras' on the walls.
Foie gras is made from goose or duck livers massively expanded by force-feeding. Production methods are decried by animal rights groups.
'We hope this is the only action needed to persuade the restaurant to stop selling foie gras. It's a simple thing to do. If not, the direct action will continue,' the ALF said in a note emailed to local paper Cambridge News.
Decanter contributing editor Fiona Beckett, who writes about visiting a small foie gras producer in the May issue of Decanter, is unambiguous about the cruelty of the process:
'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.'
It is not the first time protesters have forced their will on businesses. Department store group House of Frasier last year banned foie gras sales in all of its stores following protests led Advocates for Animals.
Other groups are also on the case. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) last year said that nearly two-thirds of UK consumers polled want the food banned.
In the US, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has legislated to phase out Californian production by 2012, and politicians in Chicago followed suit in 2006 by banning the controversial delicacy in all other city's restaurants.
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I strongly object to vandalism. I also object to Ms Fiona Beckett's views and hopes Decanter has no intention to brainwash happy tasters of foie gras around the UK or elsewhere.
Please let us choose for ourselves what we like - no one compels Ms Beckett or anyone to indulge in foie Gras. Activists are the plague of our times: see the anti-wine lobbyists. Is this Your role as journalist to be accomplices of their coups de force? Why should violent minorities impose their views on the slient majority?
I hope these activists will be sued and condemned.
Hervé Lalau, Belgium
I am a huge fan of foie gras, yet in the past few years I have only consumed this delicacy during trade dinners (when the I had no clue it was to be served until the plate was set in front of me). Stories such as this are the reason I shun the delicacy. Force feeding of geese and ducks in order to create a more viable product is inhumane. I consume more than my share of beef, pork, and even veal, but none of these animals have plastic tubes shoved down their throats and gorged with cream corn and other chemicals in order to fatten the liver due to cirrhosis. I applaud the restaurants that are taking the initiative and removing the dish from menus. It is time that governments take a look at what is considered humane in the production of meat and game.
Christopher Barrett, Houston, TX, USA
IT'S ABOUT TIME !!! I viewed a documentary of the production process over forty years ago and will never forget it. Only the most greedy and selfish could approve of this unnecessary cruelty ! You Brits seem to be the most civilized and compassionate people in the World.
Paul Free, USA
Thank goodness for that!! Good for them! Lets hope all good restaurants do the same. There is so much good food to choose from there is no need for this practice. Well done!!
I couldn't agree more with your last sentiment, M. Lalau but I don't think you should bracket me with the activists until you've had the opportunity to read the piece.
I'm certainly not trying to impose my views on you or anyone else simply to explain why I can no longer justify eating foie gras, despite seeing it produced from ducks that are reared reared on a small, artisanal farm.
I utterly deplore what's happened at Midsummer House as any right minded person would do.
Fiona Beckett, UK
I wonder why nobody ever poses the question of how we found that fois gras was possible? The answer is that it is a natural function of the geese to expand their livers to stock up for winter (did you ever see a goose that stopped eating?). What man did was to exaggerate that process.
Forced feeding is not very pleasant but the resulting product certainly is. The way forward is for us to use nature. It would require probably a lot more un-force-fed geese to produce the quantities now consumed but should certainly be possible to do it humanely with modern know-how.
Otherwise, what are we going to do with all that sauternes?
Philip Styles, St.Gaudent, France
What a pity that our society is becoming so intolerant that every special interest group wants to impose its own belief onto the rest of the society. When prohibition to eat meat only because an animal has to be killed, however properly, for us to eat its meat? We think we are getting smarter but, very unfortunately, our civilisation is regressing.
Bernard Portet
We have a Government intent on banning everything that we may gain a little pleasure from and we have criminals who are not properly dealt with for causing damage and disruption to a perfectly fit and proper business.
We have to question exactly where our society is going if can continue to accept the unreasonable rule of authority and the unreasonable behaviour of criminals in shaping the way in which we might otherwise choose to decide what we can eat and drink.
It is just not acceptable for us to give these criminals any voice in shaping what we do, we have completely lost sight of the necessity for any discipline and continue to allow the unruly a right to be heard when the majority remain silent. I have said it before - what we need is a revolution, please form an orderly queue behind me....
Peter Bowyer, Wiltshire, UK
The debate is not surely about foi gras but rather why vandals and thugs are trying to enforce their own legislation. The Animal Rights Brigade should be placed in stocks and pelted with goose droppings. They wont be though. Instead, they'll get national coverage and be cheered along by another pointless vocally loud minority aggravator of justice.
Breezy
i have worked in restaurants where anti-foie lobbyists have demonstrated outside. they erected video monitors and played tape of geese being force-fed. in my opinion, they have every right to do so and i applaud their convictions. however, these english vandals damaged private property. are they being prosecuted for that? have charges or damages been filed?
the number of ducks and geese on these farms is miniscule in comparison to the millions of meat animals being raised on factory farms. cows that are fed grain that is mostly undigestible, rather than their normal diet of grass, so they are kept on pharmaceuticals and live in a state of chronic illness. chickens whose beaks are cut and wings snipped, kept in tiny cages, never to touch the earth. pigs whose tails are snipped and raised in giant squalid barns. all of these animals raised in such tight quarters, they spend their short, but artificially accelerated, lives on antibiotics to prevent epidemics.
foie gras is an easy target because it is perceived as a luxury good. yet where is the outrage against what makes hamburger and chicken tenders so cheap?
Beth Iannicelli, Boston, USA
As I live nearby I have eaten several times at Midsummer House and while I personally wont miss the Foie Gras on their menu I do strongly object to the strong-arm tactics of the ALF. Once again these publicity seeking mobsters have hijacked a long running minor (and peaceful) protest from a couple of well meaning locals. The restaurant provides possibly the finest sourced meat from the best producers of any restaurant in Cambridge. There is no doubting the welfare standards of their suppliers and it is completely unjustifiable that they have been picked on. When I see the ALF targeting the major fast food chains like KFC or McDonalds I may have a little more sympathy.
P Rose, Cambridge, UK
Foie Gras is so good that I would strap the duck to my own body and "force" feed it myself.
Is it possible that these animal rights vandals are stooping to the easiest target? A local restaurant? Wouldn't be so easy for them to vandalize a feed lot - where cows are truly forced to eat feed they would never eat naturally, are dosed with growth hormones, and antibiotics because they stand in their own feces all day long. No, that would be a bit tougher for them. Those people have security teams. With guns.
Of all the heinous wrongs in the world, these "protestors" have chosen to spend their time working for the betterment of ducks. And I'm supposed to let these idiots tell me what I can eat now, too?
S Worsham, Alexandria, Virginia USA
Reading the comment of Ms Beckett, stating that she does not justify the activist's methods, I accept this and withdraw my own comment about this. But I add that the author should have expressed at least some dissatisfaction with these acts of vandalism, and called for more tolerance.
Hervé Lalau
This is not a protest, this is urban terrorism. There is as much negative "force" being used here against people's wishes and a legitimate business operating for its clients within the law as any surmised violation of animal husbandry. If you dont like it, dont eat it, wear it or buy it. Educate to elucidate - but it seems these people can only force their views ...
Angela Reddin
I am writing again in response to many of the posted comments. In my earlier statement I did not make clear that I condemn these activists, but I agree with their point of view, that the production of foie gras is inhumane. If man wants to eat foie gras, they should allow the geese to naturally fatten their livers for winter, not hasten the process by inserting plastic tubing into the geeses' throats and forcing mashed corn into their stomach. I also applaud Ms. Becket for her article and her opinions. As for the comment “What to do with all the Sauternes?” I suggest pairing these fantastic wines with other choices such as vanilla crème brulee and various tarts and crepes. Or do as I, enjoy a fabulous Sauternes AS the dessert!
Christopher Barrett
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I strongly object to vandalism. I also object to Ms Fiona Beckett's views and hopes Decanter has no intention to brainwash happy tasters of foie gras around the UK or elsewhere.
