Wolfgang Puck and Fois Gras

Seems Wolfie has banned it---interesting.

"LOS ANGELES (AP) - Celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck is cooking up kinder, gentler menus. As part of a new initiative to fight animal cruelty, Puck said Thursday he will no longer serve foie gras, the fatty liver produced by overfeeding ducks and geese.

His 14 fine-dining restaurants, more than 80 fast-casual eateries and 43 catering venues will use only eggs from hens that have lived cage-free; veal from roaming calves; and lobsters that have been removed from their ocean traps quickly to avoid crowded holding tanks.

Puck said guests at his restaurants want to know their food is made with fresh, organic ingredients and that the animals were treated well.

fr the whole story--- http://apnews.myway.com//article/20070322/D8O1GAKO0.html

and--notice the ads located on that same page!

..and only using meat from animals that have died of old age while sipping lemonade on the porch...

Puck needs to get a life. Obviously his 14 restaurants, 80 casual eateries and 43 catering venues are distracting him from the real issues of life. Who can live without foie gras??

I am tempted to buy one of the t-shirts advertised on the link Tiki provides.Seriously.I am tired of all of this banning and outlawing of things when we have MANY more important issues in the world.

He is probably trying to get good publicity after the hepetitis scare earlier this year.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-wolfgang28feb28,0,6919250.story?coll=la-home-headlines

joe

I don’t think there is anything wrong with being humane to the creatures that provide us sustenance.

I agree with being humane,but why has this become the new political issue???Wouldnt it be humane to feed and clothe the homeless children in our own country???

I believe in being humane to animals, and I am also especially interested in organic and free-range chickens, eggs, and milk considering all the hormones and crap they pump into animals. I am REALLY against feeding cows to cows and producing horrors like mad cow.

This just seems a little but like posturing. He has been frequently picketed by PETA. Killing animals and eating them is just not pretty no matter how you spin it.

Elise--im with you all the way on that--i do believe that we don't have to torture animals to eat them---and that organically grown free range chickens TASTE better--but i really think Wolfgang is a shmuck who is doing this--not because its the right thing to do -- but because he wants to hang on to his hip Hollywood clientel and he really couldn't care less about the force feeding.

Humane treatment of animals has been an issue with me for at least 40 years . . . WAY before it became a "politically correct" thing to do. I detest seeing, hearing or reading about a**h***s who mistreat animals.

One recent article (it may have already been posted, I didn't have time to look) that REALLY got my dander up is as follows:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/12840743/porks_dirty_secret_the_nations_top_hog_producer_is_also_one_of_americas_worst_polluters/1

I would threaten to BOYCOTT Smithfield, but I know that wouldn't work. If one is going to eat PORK, one is going to eat pork that is somehow processed by Smithfield. And NOW they're moving to Europe to pollute it!

quote:

Originally posted by tiki

Elise--im with you all the way on that--i do believe that we don't have to torture animals to eat them---and that organically grown free range chickens TASTE better--but i really think Wolfgang is a shmuck who is doing this--not because its the right thing to do -- but because he wants to hang on to his hip Hollywood clientel and he really couldn't care less about the force feeding.

Yeah, he's definitely willing to force-feed engorged tourists!

quote:

Originally posted by EliseT

quote:

Originally posted by tiki

Elise--im with you all the way on that--i do believe that we don't have to torture animals to eat them---and that organically grown free range chickens TASTE better--but i really think Wolfgang is a shmuck who is doing this--not because its the right thing to do -- but because he wants to hang on to his hip Hollywood clientel and he really couldn't care less about the force feeding.

Yeah, he's definitely willing to force-feed engorged tourists!

--------Gret line!

Ah Foie gras...ten very small and sweet young ducks are in the barn under a warming light. They will be fed and cared for until August when they will be allowed to PIG out on warm feed and beer. End of August they will become confit and foie gras. Such is life.

quote:

Originally posted by V960

Ah Foie gras...ten very small and sweet young ducks are in the barn under a warming light. They will be fed and cared for until August when they will be allowed to PIG out on warm feed and beer. End of August they will become confit and foie gras. Such is life.

C'mon, V960!

Being "allowed" to pig out on warm feed and beer is just a mite different than having a funnel shoved down your throat and then having the "warm feed and beer" being "pumped" down the funnel.

Hey, I'm no tree hugger, but I do like animals (as well as all the delicious stuff that they furnish me to eat).

But, let's be honest . . . we can STILL enjoy our position at the TOP of the food chain WITHOUT causing unimaginable AGONY to the animals that provide us our culinary enjoyment.

Foie gras may be tasty to some of us. But the jerks who are REALLY enjoying the bloated livers are the a**h**** producers who laugh ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK!

Just a thought .

I'm willing to be corrected but I thought V960 produces foie gras just as he stated. No funnels involved. I have not yet tasted this but plan on doing so. An animal that is allowed to eat themselves into a human delicacy is not one I'll shed any tears for.

quote:

Originally posted by V960

Ah Foie gras...ten very small and sweet young ducks are in the barn under a warming light. They will be fed and cared for until August when they will be allowed to PIG out on warm feed and beer. End of August they will become confit and foie gras. Such is life.

You sound so French here...are you puffing on a Gitane??

Foie gras was "discovered" by the Egyptians a few thousand years ago when they killed the geese keep around the grain silos to reduce the feed available to the rats. My ducks I raise each year overeat and become a bit restless when the warm mash is put out.

Let me think...animals that overeat to the point they ruin their health...go to any fast food place, on any day at almost any time...humans do it and yet we expect a bird w/ a brain the size of a walnut to be smarter?

The foie gras thing is totally political. PETA producers some really nasty (actually I took their pictures and modified them to a humane method five or so years ago...they never returned my emails thanking them for the education) but why would you put stress on an animal you want to produce a product. I am sitting at my desk watching thirty or so hens and ONE rooster (I'm coming back in my next Hindu life as him) eat fresh sprouts and cavort. Bad thing is he eats the same feed as the hens and the oyster shells in it are poison to him.

Battery hens are a totally different subject. Young hens can be subjected to the most horrible conditions (as they are daily) and still produce an egg every 28 hours. One year later they are in a pot pie or chicken noodle soup.

Personally,I love seared foie gras...A once ( or twice ) a year treat...

quote:

Originally posted by BunglingBill

quote:

Originally posted by V960

Ah Foie gras...ten very small and sweet young ducks are in the barn under a warming light. They will be fed and cared for until August when they will be allowed to PIG out on warm feed and beer. End of August they will become confit and foie gras. Such is life.

C'mon, V960!

Being "allowed" to pig out on warm feed and beer is just a mite different than having a funnel shoved down your throat and then having the "warm feed and beer" being "pumped" down the funnel.

Hey, I'm no tree hugger, but I do like animals (as well as all the delicious stuff that they furnish me to eat).

But, let's be honest . . . we can STILL enjoy our position at the TOP of the food chain WITHOUT causing unimaginable AGONY to the animals that provide us our culinary enjoyment.

Foie gras may be tasty to some of us. But the jerks who are REALLY enjoying the bloated livers are the a**h**** who laugh ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK!

Just a thought .

Unimaginable AGONY? When was the last time you were in Dordogne or Perigord or even in the Massif Central? First of all, there is no AGONY, the ducks and geese in question actually LINE UP to have their daily ration of extra corn pellets. I have been on many farms and seen them. They are treated better than you, me, your cat and your dog. And about the jerks and the a**h****s that enjoy this particular dish, let me see, are you calling me (and many of my friends) a jerk and an a**h***??

I love foie gras!

quote:

Originally posted by iqdiva

I love foie gras!

Me too! Especially foie gras en brioche with champagne.

That sounds devine!

quote:

Unimaginable AGONY? When was the last time you were in Dordogne or Perigord or even in the Massif Central? First of all, there is no AGONY, the ducks and geese in question actually LINE UP to have their daily ration of extra corn pellets. I have been on many farms and seen them. They are treated better than you, me, your cat and your dog. And about the jerks and the a**h****s that enjoy this particular dish, let me see, are you calling me (and many of my friends) a jerk and an a**h***??

NOPE . . . I'm certainly not calling you anything.

I'm referring to the people who I have seen force-feeding the animals with funnels and mechanical pumps. You haven't done THAT, have you, chef?

If you like goose and duck liver, that's fine with me. Have at it.

However, inhumane treatment of animals by a few people is NOT conducive to your long-term supply of this "delicacy" in your restaurants, chef, as illustrated by the recent "bans."

So, instead of becoming defensive, perhaps you should help reform the individuals who are generating the bad publicity.

Also, it might be helpful to re-read my post a bit more carefully. I made NO references to any individual who ENJOYED goose and/or duck liver.

Please do not put your personal "SPIN" on my post (opinion).

All this talk makes me want some foie gras...what llechef described sounds divine!!!!Thank God Wisconsin hasnt banned it yet!!!

BunglingBill, yes, I HAVE done that. Sorry, pal. I spent many years in France and have spent a lot of time on farms feeding geese and ducks with a funnel and THEY LINE UP every day for their treat. This is NOT inhumane treatment of animals. As to the individuals who are generating the bad publicity, I ignore them and say, "More foie gras for me and the rest of us". Bans schmams.

UN-SPINNINGLY.......lleechef

geeze, I sound like Ort.!

Until ALL OF US stop eating anything with a face, we really have no say about the way the animals we eat from around the world are bred for us to enjoy.

Whether the way the farmer fattens his ducks and geese, or the rancher fattens his cows,
or whether the pond farmers fatten their fish and shrimp, the end result is the same. We kill it, eat it, and, enjoy eating it!

So, until we are all ready for Soylent Green, enjoy!

quote:

Originally posted by twinwillow

Until ALL OF US stop eating anything with a face, we really have no say about the way the animals we eat from around the world are bred for us to enjoy.

Whether the way the farmer fattens his ducks and geese, or the rancher fattens his cows,
or whether the pond farmers fatten their fish and shrimp, the end result is the same. We kill it, eat it, and, enjoy eating it!

So, until we are all ready for Soylent Green, enjoy!

Well, I wasn't going to step into this mine field, as I absolutely love foie gras, but I have to comment on this post. I believe that we do have a right to comment on the treatment of animals that are being prepared for slaughter for our nourishment.

I have been to many small farms across Western Europe and in upstate New York, and I have seen that these farmers take very good care of their cattle, chickens, geese, etc.

I think, however, that we can question the conditions that some animals destined for our tables are forced to undergo, given the mass commercialization and takeover by large conglomerates of a great deal of our agriculture in the States. And it is not just PETA that has raised the issue of overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, etc.

I'm not saying all "big business" is bad for agriculture, just that the climate for caring for the animals that provide us food has changed in many places, and not necessarily for the better. I for one welcome investigative reporting of the abuses in this industry.

But as I said before, I do love my foie gras!

Are we really at the top of the food chain? We don't eat lions and tigers.

We do eat shark...but we don't eat Great Whites...

quote:

Originally posted by EliseT

Are we really at the top of the food chain? We don't eat lions and tigers.

We do eat shark...but we don't eat Great Whites...

EVERYTHING is both eating something else and being eaten BY something else--including us! I do believe that the food "Chain" is not a straight line,but rather a circle! ZRight now--inside us--there are very small things EATING US!--and they are essential to life as we know it, on the planet. I hope we at least taste good!

Referring to my above post, what I really mean't to say was, what we say, really doesn't have very much influence it seems on how farmers, etc. raise and feed their stocks.
The "old world" practices of "farming" will not change very quickly in some parts of the world.
We can scream against whaling, but it still takes place.