Product Description

In announcing that he had stopped serving the fattened livers of force-fed ducks and geese at his world-renowned restaurant, influential chef Charlie Trotter heaved a grenade into a simmering food fight, and the Foie Gras Wars erupted. He said his morally minded menu revision was meant merely to raise consciousness, but what was he thinking when he also suggested -- to Chicago Tribune reporter Mark Caro -- that a rival four-star chef 's liver be eaten as "a little treat"? The reaction to Caro's subsequent front-page story was explosive, as Trotter's sizable hometown moved to ban the ancient delicacy known as foie gras while an international array of activists, farmers, chefs and politicians clashed forcefully and sometimes violently over whether fattening birds for the sake of scrumptious livers amounts to ethical agriculture or torture.

"Take a dish with a funny French name, add ducks, top it all off with celebrity chefs eating each other's livers, and that's entertainment," Caro writes. Yet as absurd as battling over bloated waterfowl organs might seem, the controversy struck a serious chord even among those who had never tasted the stuff. Reporting from the front lines of this passionate dining debate, Caro explores the questions we too often avoid: What is an acceptable amount of suffering for an animal that winds up on our plate? Is a duck that lives comfortably for twelve weeks before enduring a few weeks of periodic force-feedings worse off than a supermarket broiler chicken that never sees the light of day over its six to seven weeks on earth? Why is the animal-rights movement picking on such a rarefied dish when so many more chickens, pigs and cows are being processed on factory farms? Then again, how could the treatment of other animals possibly justify the practice of feeding a duck through a metal tube down its throat?

In his relentless yet good-humored pursuit of clarity, Caro takes us to the streets where activists use bullhorns, spray paint, Superglue and/or lawsuits as their weapons; the government chambers where politicians weigh the ducks' interests against their own; the restaurants and outlaw dining clubs where haute cuisine preparations coexist with Foie-lipops; and the U.S. and French farms whose operators maintain that they are honoring tradition, not abusing animals. Can foie gras survive after 5,000 years? Are we on the verge of a more enlightened era of eating? Can both answers be yes? Our appetites hang in the balance.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #61915 in Books
• Published on: 2009-03-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 368 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781416556688
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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From Publishers Weekly
Veteran Chicago Tribune entertainment reporter Caro expands on his front-page story about a 2005 flap over foie gras with a wide-ranging investigation into the ethical debate surrounding the human consumption of fattened duck liver. Drawing on conflicts in Chicago, Philadelphia and California over whether force-feeding birds should be legislated as torture or standard agricultural practice, Caro presents various positions from duck farmers, chefs and animal rights activists. His chatty arguments between industry players deliver without becoming unnecessarily complicated or resorting to the oversimplification of surveys and superficial media reports. Caro offers descriptions of a vegan activist headquarters, a video depicting a rat burrowing into an injured duck, and traditional farm operations in France. While he pursues his source's agendas with due diligence, he appears reluctant to side completely with gourmands despite describing presumably happy ducks, mouthwatering foie gras meals and even eating a raw duck liver. While he tends to focus on the colorful, entertaining aspects of the food's history and science, Caro's selection of pointed quotes from duck liver lovers and foie gras foes presents an in-depth take on this ongoing food fight. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
In 2006, Chicago’s City Council enacted a ban on the sale of foie gras, one of the summits of gastronomic art. Concerted action by a number of animal-rights advocates armed with photos and videotapes had persuaded one alderman to propose the embargo, and the ordinance sailed through with little debate. Reacting to this governmental interference in their menus, Chicago’s vainest and most celebrated chefs squared off in opposing camps, hurling insults at one another and generally attracting both national and worldwide attention until the ban’s repeal in 2008. Chicago Tribune reporter Caro has documented the full story of this culture contretemps. Reminding that force-feeding poultry dates back to the dawn of recorded history, he investigates the reality of today’s relatively benign treatment of ducks and geese on both American and French farms. He details force-feeding processes that engorge fowls’ livers to succulence and appear so repugnant to urbanites who romanticize rural life. The voluble farmers, entrepreneurs, animal-rights activists, and chefs whom Caro vividly describes rival even the perennially entertaining denizens of Chicago’s City Hall, and it becomes hard to discern who is the silliest goose. --Mark Knoblauch

About the Author
Mark Caro is the entertainment reporter for the Chicago Tribune, whose writing on the issue of foie gras received honors from the James Beard Foundation and the Association of Food Journalists.

Customer Reviews

Thought Provoking Read
I was pleasantly surprised when reading The Foie Gras Wars at how informative the book was. Having taken many Animal Science, Animal Morality, Species Dissection, and even a Meat Processing class in college, I was expecting The Foie Gras Wars to be a watered down or highly biased "layman's version" of what is really going on in the meat processing industry. It was not.

Mark Caro did a good job of remaining relatively unbiased regarding the moral practices of creating Foie Gras. He gave a detailed history of the delicacy, a startlingly frank explanation of how the animals are force fed into having these giant livers, and the standpoints of many famous chefs on whether or not they would serve this controversial dish. I was so intrigued that I even went online to find videos of Foie Gras production. Some were shocking, while others showed humane treatment of the animals.

While the book does get slow at several points, I believe the information was pertinent. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to get a glimpse into one small section of the meat processing industry. Recommended.

An impressive analysis of a specialized food item!
It's rare that I read a book, and decide I need to develop a university course. The Foie Gras Wars, by Mark Caro, inspired me to do so.

The fatty liver of a force-fed duck or goose, foie gras (Caro notes the correct pronunciation is "fwah grah") is a speciality food item in the United States, but a rather common food item in France. The "foie gras wars" are not an anti-French action spawned by the creators of "Freedom fries," but rather a very focused campaign by animal activists and supporters of the humane treatment of agricultural animals toward this one food production system: the practice of stuffing a tube into the gullets of captive ducks and geese and forcing them to consume more food than they would under "natural" conditions (even in captivity) until they have an extremely fatty liver, affecting even their ability to waddle normally, then being slaughtered and packaged for up-scale restaurants (in the U.S.).

The book begins with the story of well-known Chicago chef Charlie Trotter speaking out against foie gras. What made foie gras different than veal, chickens, or bacon? Caro states the attention given to foie gras as a unique food niche was for the following reasons:

- it has a funny French name,
- it is enjoyed by the relatively affluent,
- it remains unknown to the average Tyson chicken eater,
- it is LIVER, and
- it is made from ducks. "We like ducks."

And, of course, the ducks and geese were force-fed. Foie gras promoter Michael Ginor stated "I would think that any animal that's economically grown suffers some. There's no question that the duck on day 28 of [force] feeding is not as happy as a duck that hasn't been fed. But the question then does become: How does that duck feel compared to, let's say, a woman in her ninth month of pregnancy? I don't think that there's ever a woman in her ninth month of pregnancy who's really psyched about that day" (p. 46). And Grammy-nominated musician Moby, who works with The Humane Society of the United States, thinks that there are more pressing animal welfare needs than foie gras. But, Moby claims, "Like insofar as pot is a gateway drug to harder drugs, banning foie gras to me is like a gateway issue to get people to evaluate their eating habits, kind of like the way veal was... The means of production are so repulsive and so profoundly unethical that once your general consumer becomes aware of it, they'll never eat foie gras again" (p. 112).

And what did Chicago Mayor Daley think when an ordinance was passed banning the sale of foie gras? "I think it's the silliest law that they've ever passed" (p. 142). Ironically, the law banned the sale of a force-fed duck's liver, but not the rest of the bird. The law was later rescinded.

So author Caro travels to France to seek out the origins of this food. He concludes that the French do not fear people making the connection between an animal and food as do American consumers. "[I]n America, it's not good that people realize that what they have on their plate is coming from the farm," stated one French foie gras exporter. In France, "People don't want to be told what to eat," said a French anti-foie gras activist. Instead, activists groups like Stop Gavage focus on culture: "How on earth can you say that a barbaric custom, consisting of sticking a funnel or a pneumatic pump down the throat of a caged animal, is a tradition of high culture?" (p. 275, Antoine Comiti).

What does Caro think? "Slaughter happens." "Food isn't just fuel. It's a source of pleasure, and if some people love foie gras the way others love chicken nuggets, who are we to say one dish is frivolous while the other is acceptable? At the same time, the fact that some chefs can prepare fantastic foie gras dishes has no bearing on whether the birds are treated humanely" (p. 280-281). In other words, it's complicated. But he admits, "Truth be told, my diet had become decidedly less healthy since I'd begun my immersion into the world of foie gras" (p. 317). His doctor, after checking Caro's cholesterol levels, was more blunt: "You're done eating foie gras." Caro didn't argue.


At the beginning of this book, probably during the first chapter, I was already wondering how Caro was going to write an entire book on this one issue. By the end, I felt I had a deeper, richer understanding of foie gras production, the arguments both for and against its production and use, its history, and some of the politics of food choices. I think that this was Caro's goal for the reader.

And I don't think Caro would argue.

fantastic
I ordered this book just because it sounded esoteric and interesting, and was in for a lovely surprise. This book is a fascinating journey through the world of foie gras. the people that make it, the people that cook it, the people that oppose it.

the book gives you a great, descriptive inside look, and despite the theoretically niche aspect of the product, it really is a far reaching book. as i was sitting outside in my pesticide free yard, eating a vegan organic meal that i cooked, i was thinking -- i need to buy foie gras at the next restaurant i go to -- not because i have a sudden urge to eat it (it is quite good though), but to support small farmers and the artisan movement

that is one of the great aspects to the book. it puts aside moral simplicity that is often used by animal rights groups (many of whom I support) and shows how stupid some of the arguments are, and paints this in a broader concept of food production and farming in general, and the various lives that it touches

you will learn about the history of foie gras, and how it is produced, and the controversy around it, but more interestingly, you will learn about the people involved in the production, the cultural history, the people involved in the preparation, and the people involved fighting for and against it -- it is a very human book, told in a fast, descriptive, and thoroughly engaging way.

super interesting, and great for conversation