Fairway's Foie Gras Sign Irks Upper West Side Activists
When Fairway Market hung a large sign at its Upper West Side store that said foie gras is humane and one of life's "greatest gustatory pleasures," a number of activists from the NYC No Foie Gras campaign petitioned the store to take it down.
Management removed the sign from the popular West Side market in a few days, but members of an animal rights group backing the campaign, Farm Sanctuary, plan to hand out leaflets in front of the store until the grocer pulls the French delicacy from its shelves.
"A lot of people were shocked to see it," the president of Farm Sanctuary, Gene Baur, said. "I think the management of Fairway understood the issue and took it down."
The production of foie gras, made from duck liver, is considered inhumane by activist groups because the birds are force-fed.
Farm Sanctuary was a major influence on the foie gras bans in California and Chicago. With its sights set on a New York ban, the group recently opened an office in the city and hired a full-time development coordinator.
While Fairway hangs colorful signs throughout its stores to draw attention to products, the signs generally are not provocative, a spokesman for the market, Bruce Bobben, said.
"One of the partners has some discretion and put the sign up," Mr. Bobben said. "It was an anomaly and totally unauthorized."
While activist groups complained about Fairway's foie gras sign, a New York restaurant consultant, Ed Schoenfeld, suggested that it was good for business.
With a strong message that read, "We have visited numerous foie gras operations, it is not inhumane," Fairway conveyed to its customers that it embraces foie gras and has intimate knowledge of the product, Mr. Schoenfeld said.
"I want to buy from someone who knows where the farm is and who knows what they're putting on your plate," he said.
The sign was removed after volunteers for Farm Sanctuary spoke with Fairway management, a spokeswoman for the group, Trisha Ritterbush, said.
The meat director at the Fairway Market on the Upper West Side, Ray Venezia, said his customers are some of the savviest food shoppers in the world and will continue to make educated decisions about products they buy.
