All Dressed Up for Their Last Foie Gras Spree
There’s something quite chilling about this series of photos, taken by Marcio Jose Sanchez at the Sent Sovi restaurant in Saratoga, California.
The diners were gathered for one of their last foie gras eating sprees before the ban on producing this “delicacy” goes into effect in California in July. Imagine getting all dressed up to eat something that’s produced by pushing a pipe down the throat of a duck and force-feeding her until her liver is so sick that it enlarges to ten times its normal size. (The name means “fat liver”.)
You’d think these folks would be embarrassed to show their faces. After all, force-feeding ducks and geese in this way has already been outlawed in a dozen countries including Israel, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, where it’s considered among the cruelest things you can do to an animal.
But quite the opposite. They all smile for the camera, applaud the chef and the “farmer”, and wish each other “bon appetit.”
This particular seven-course event for 30 happy diners included arugula with foie gras vinaigrette, foie gras mousse with tartufata and English peas, seared foie gras with savory rhubarb pie, and for dessert, foie gras with peanut butter and chocolate.
Also on the menu was carrot soup topped with foie gras cream.
The dates and locations of who’s putting on what dinner are kept secret to make it hard for animal protection groups to demonstrate outside the restaurants.