Submitted by Hangbuddy, Feb 14, 2007 19:11

From Ancient Egypt to Gaul. Foie gras has a long-standing tradition in the history of gastronomy. Foie gras "pâté" only really came into its own in the 18th century, but the technique of force-feeding poultry (gavage) was used by the ancient Egyptians at the time of the Pharaohs, as can be seen on an old fresco discovered at Sakkarah which dates back to 2500 B.C and depicts six Egyptians stuffing geese.

The word itself is more recent as it comes from the Latin. "Foie", like "fegato" in Italian, is a deformation of the Latin term "jecur figatum", meaning "liver stuffed with figs", because the Romans force-fed their geese with a mixture of crushed dried figs, milk and honey (of course, corn was at the time still unknown in Europe).

Geese were fed on this mixture to fatten them up after their long journey from Gaul to Rome. Some things don't change: the Gauls, the ancestors of the modern-day French, were already at that time specialists in breeding geese, though the principal areas of production were Boulogne and Calais. (http://www.frenchselections.com/deco/fghist.hts

So, Foie Gras has been around along time, and has long been considered a delicacy. Personally, I only buy the stuff for special company, and am more than willing to stuff myself at weddings and such where it is available. Good Foie Gras is certainly better than my best chopped liver, though my liver could win at competition.

Almost all animals raised and killed for food suffer some form of trauma. Will I give up my meat and foul, not likely. Extreem cruelty to animals in the preparation of our food should never be acceptable. Kosher foods, especially meat and chicken are produced by slitting the throats of the animals and hanging them upside down in order for them to bleed out. In doing so, the bodily chemicals that usually enter the animals meat during times of stress are all but eliminated. I don't buy Kosher food, for me it's too expensive however, the technique and reasons for the rules of slaughter for Kosher food do tell us that ducks and geese raised in pityful conditions and force fed, poison their bodily meat especially their organs. Then it's up to the people who eat the pate to decide. Hey, people still eat puffer fish specially prepared of course, but they are still taking their lives in their hands.

If Foie Gras were not available, some lesser type of replacement would arrive on the market. Personally, if saving ducks and geese from cruel methods will somehow make humans less cruel to humans, I am all for it. Stop the duck stuffing today. But this will never happen. Stop Foie Gras producton in New York and it will move to another state.

Governor Spitzer has more important things to consider for the entire State of New York, than to respond to a small grass roots movement trying to stop cruelty to ducks and geese. Animal rights activists need to prove to the public at large that eating Foie Gras is like eating arsenic. Then people will stop eating it, and ducks and geese will be fed and killed normally.

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