Reader comments
Fowl play? Battle over serving duck delicacy leads to protests in Utah

I have seen this served on some of the chef/cooking shows I like to watch and thought it something that I would never want to try. Now, I think I will order it next time I see it on the menu.

So it has always been a pricey food for the snobbish, but now, thanks to S.H.A.R.K. and other of that ilk, it will become even rarer hence ever more exclusive. Invest in foie gras futures today.

What's next Rocky Mountain Oysters?
Viva La France, Viva La Foie Gras.

Notice how these "do gooders" always end up resorting to terorism.

Blecch! Foie gras is greasy and nasty. Its one of those "acquired" tastes, I suppose.

The SHARK protestors (or others) go way overboard when they resort to such measures as vandalism, threats, etc. Simply write the restaurant a letter with your concerns and then don't go there if it is so important to you. Take your business elsewhere.

If you believe in eating meat (which I do), but are concerned about the animals' welfare then do your research to find those distributors, restaurants, grocers, etc. that fit with your values and lifestyle. Research the food label "Certifiably Humane." There are measures you, as a consumer, can take that will show grocers and other businesses what you want/don't want. But do it intelligently and sensibly.

Buy what you believe in and don't buy or support what you don't believe in. It's as simple as that.

Once again the liberal whack jobs would have us believe that the comfort of an animal being raised for food is more important than human life and liberty.

The SHARK rep said they would turn in whoever was responsible for vandalism, but I'm sure that inside she was giddy. Especially when the restaurant caved and quit serving the dish.

Once again the noisy minority get's it's way while the silent majority gets hosed.

I love animals ... there delicious.

Ignorance can help both sides of an argument. On the one hand, some dummies will EAT IT just to spite those they assume they don't like, the animal rights people. But make them actually do any more than pay a bunch of money ( which they can't afford on their uneducated-level jobs, or welfare,) such as raise and then kill the poor bird, they'd change their tune.
On the other hand, people will refuse to EAT IT because they heard that the poor birds suffer confinement and torture, but they will vote for Bush because of the torture chambers he aknowledges he runs at Guantanamo.
The bottom line is that a bunch of mean-spirited people bicker pointlessly on-line about something neither side is mentally capable of comprehending. All these posters admit they no nothing of Foi Gras (neither do I, as shown by my probable mis-spelling) but they'll hate it or absolutely love it, simply because they don't like, or do like, whoever is for, or against it. They would eat it yumyumyum if they thought it was liverwurst (it is) or they would vomit it up if they thought it was anything else. People just like to be contrary.

I agree. Animals are yummy. animal "rights" groups are weird.

It's an interesting tasting food, but not worth the price or all the bickering.

The comment about sympathizing more with animals if they had to raise and kill them is not true. Widespread sympathy for animals is a relatively new phenomenon and usually only happens among people that have not spent time around animals raised for food.

I've had foie gras many times in France. It's great. But I agree with the others, if you don't like it, don't eat it. That one defender says, "There are so many other things to eat." Then you eat them! People can eat what they want. Such stupid things to fight and waste your energy over. Try tackling something useful.

Robert Hawkins, good point. Debates like this--most issues I can think of, actually--tend to get hijacked by obsessed, short-sighted, mean-spirited people on both sides. It's a big problem. Like Zacko said, usually what happens is that the silent majority (or the thoughtful moderates, if you prefer) end up getting hosed.

Is Foie Gras really the same thing as liverwurst? (Same ingredient, different form, I suuppose.) If so, why aren't people picketing sandwich shops and grocery stores? It's the "wow" factor associated with Foie Gras, I guess.

Kinda said how stupid, mean, and short-sighted some people can be.

Praise to the chef for not caving in like others. I'm sure the SHARK leader knows "nothing" about who vandalized the restaurant.

Animal Rights vs. Animal Welfare

An important point many people seem to be missing here: there is a different between "animal rights" and "animal welfare."

Those who support rights believe that animals should be treated exactly the same as humans. Rights supporters are against all meat-eating. They are against fish tanks, medical testing, even seeing-eye dogs. Rights supporters seek to eliminate the relationship between humans and animals completely.

Those who support welfare are those who actually make sure that the animals we use for consumption, research, and companionship are treated respectfully. These are the people who have studied foie gras farming and have found it to be humane. I suggest that those who are interested in learning more about the animal welfare aspects of foie gras farming check out the link at the end of the article for Legal Foie Gras.

Additionally, the anti-foie video referenced in the article is not to be trusted. Google "animal snuff films" to see how these types of films have been faked, exaggerated, and taken out of context. Some rights organizations have even paid people to harm animals just to get a good scary video.

I'll consider vegetarianism the day dolphins do.

This is just another example of how the left leaning liberals resort to violence when their argument fails to convince people who think for themselves. Many other groups do this too, for example PETA, Enviornmental Groups ect. Liberal groups like SHARK do not want people to think things through and come up with their own opinions, rather they want people to just blindly believe them and accept their thoughts as the only way to think.

I'll never eat there again since mini martha stewart aka karen olsen caved in to some crackpots. the food hasn't been very good the last few times i went there anyway.

I don't see how this is an animal rights issue even. It's just a most basic decency issue. Has everyone that is posting such negative comments gone and actually watched the footage of how foie gras is produced? I just followed the link and was sickened. If someone did that to a few of the ducks at liberty park everyone would call for cruelty charges - but if an industry does it we can call it 'agriculture'. How sickening. Also - Hudson Valley Foie Gras just had a fire and 15,000 ducks were burned alive. This is 'animal welfare'? This sounds like cruelty to me.

I'm proud to be counted among the protesters of The Metropolitan that led to this victory for ducks/geese. The production of foie gras is inherently cruel. There is a reason that Chicago, California, and so many European countries have already outlawed its production. The production process is simply sickening.

I don't see how anyone can watch the footage of ducks/geese being force fed and not feel sympathy for what that animal is going through. Why are we being so callous? Why do we feel like one unnecessary and unhealthy menu item is worth heaps of animal suffering?

Is there ever a point that animal agricultural practices can get so horrendous that finally our society will stand up and say that enough is enough? Or will we always think that any amount of animal suffering is worth my most trivial tastes and pleasures?