Boycott Chicago! (Foie Gras banned)

[onocoffee]

In the name of all that is decent and good about America, I call upon all citizens of the world to boycott the City of Chicago - the new bastion of culinary fascism.

Beginning next month, the City of Chicago has forbid its' citizenry from serving and eating foie gras. The new police state has risen where the government dictates to its' populace what food is and is not acceptable.

It is time to let these powers know that this level of government will not be tolerated and abandon that city to its' own devices. I had been thinking of a trip to the Windy City to visit Six Flags but no more. The City of Chicago shant have any of my patronage so long as this dominion remains.

I call upon the businesses and citizens to abandon that city. Leave and leave now. I call upon the National Restaurant Association to pull it's annual trade show out of Chicago and into a city that doesn't restrict the gastronomical desires of it's people.

So long Velvet Room. So long Truefitt & Hill. So long Chicago Chop House. Sad to never have known you Charlie Trotter.

[nick]

How come you don't call CHICAGO a "banana republic," eh?!?

So long, Pizzeria UNO. So long, Bob Chinn. So long, Oprah. So long, ER. So long, windyness. So long, lake-effects snows. So long Roger Ebert. So long, Baton Show Lounge.

[barry]

The new police state has risen where the government dictates to its' populace what food is and is not acceptable.

nothing new there. have a look at the FDA.

ever had any cornish clotted cream in the US?


--barry "no cattle were harmed in dressing my scones"

[drew johnson]

so long richard gere. so long queen latifah. so long gerry krautz. so long looking for used wil perdue jerseys.

but i still want a craig hodges

[Sandy]

So long Intelligentsia???!!?
Say it isn't so!

[Matt Riddle]

Might as well be thorough - goodbye UK, Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Luxembourg, Norway, Italy, Poland...

//edit
bye bye McDonalds, Quaker Oats, Allstate, Boeing, CNA, Jewel-Osco, Kraft, MOtorola, Sara Lee, Sears, Walgreen, Wrigley...

[Mike Paras]

Sad to never have known you Charlie Trotter.

CT's role in this debacle is interesting to me. From the Wikipedia entry:

Most recently, Mr. Trotter has become the center of a politcal debate in Chicago over foie gras. Mr. Trotter claims that he stopped serving foie gras several years ago because it is a cruel practice (although he has allowed guest chefs to prepare foie gras in his restaurant since this announcement). Mr. Trotter was publicly criticized by Rick Tramanto of Tru, and the two chefs carried on a very public debate over foie gras. This culminated in an ordinance propsing that foie gras be banned in Chicago restaurants by Alderman Joe Moore (who admits that he has never eaten foie gras, but is not a vegetarian). The ban passed in April 2006 and Charlie Trotter is cited as the inspiration for the foie gras ban in the introduction and text of the ordinance.

I dunno, it seems like someone with Charlie Trotter's fame could have fought this thing by publicly announcing he would move if it passed.

Since this is Chicago we are talking about, I wonder if someone will come up with a foie gras speakeasy

I think the fine is several hundred bucks- It would be pretty cheap publicity to be the first place busted under this stupid law.

And Jay- I think the ban goes into effect in August- still plenty of time to hit Six Flags and patronize the restaurant that is serving the "10 course foie gras menu" until the ban goes into effect

[Richard Hartnell]

I think I'd rather see an underground foie gras scene than have it mainstreamed where people are just eating it because it's on the menu.

I mean, the dish *is* fantastically cruel - is this a price we are willing to pay for deliciousness? If someone were force-feeding civets coffee until their colons swelled to massive size and exploded, would we be celebrating a drop in the astronomical price of Kopi Luwak?

[Andy Schecter]

I mean, the dish *is* fantastically cruel - is this a price we are willing to pay for deliciousness?

Thank you for mentioning that.

[onocoffee]

[quote="Velveteen"I mean, the dish *is* fantastically cruel - is this a price we are willing to pay for deliciousness? [/quote]


Abso-smurf-ly.

And as often as my wallet allows.

[xristrettox]

The new police state has risen where the government dictates to its' populace what food is and is not acceptable.

As velveteen said.

I am sure that the law was passed based on animal cruelty issues, and not to prevent your gastronomical conquest. The way you view this is crucial as to whether the law is reasonable or not.

I love food and enjoy reading books about it, and I want to eat just about everything in the world now... but foie gras... is cruel and I would have a hard time justifying eating it, just to believe I am some sort of gourmand. This goes for veal too.

I appreciate your sentiments Jay, and I don't want to see the government restrict our lives beyond what "we" allow.

At what point is animal cruelty considered okay? And conversely, if we allow the powers-that-be to restrict our eating habits, at what point will they stop?

[Tim Dominick]

At just a few months old, ducks are confined inside dark sheds and force-fed enormous amounts of food several times a day. A farm worker grabs each duck and, one by one, thrusts a metal pipe down their throats so that a mixture of corn can be forced directly into their gullets. In just a matter of weeks, the ducks become grossly overweight and their livers expand up to 10 times their normal size.

Yum...Nearly exploding liver sounds delightful. I guess pate is simply too bland for some folks.

This kind of foodstuff should be left to those people who want to raise it themselves, you shouldn't be able to buy it. If you have a sadistic streak and like to confine critters to small cages so they stay tender and yummy, great get a farm and we'll see how you enjoy slaughtering, preparing then eating ducks with impacted colons.

Its hard enough to eat a duck when you treated it right, ring its neck, and then make rillettes and confit out of it. (Which are quite tasty, but can be obtained without subjecting a duck to inhumane treatment.)

[onocoffee]

What is the use of living in this world if Gastronomical Conquest is not part of your daily adventure?


Conversely speaking, I weep each time I think of those poor blades of wheat being cruelly chopped and run through a harvester. Ripped to shreds with it's innards blown out and the exterior remains bundled into workable bales. It's too much for my sensitivity to handle.

Remember: a bunny dies each time a blade of wheat is decimated by a New Holland Harvester...




I will refrain from visiting/supporting anything Chicago so long as this tyranny remains.


.

[Richard Hartnell]

What is the use of living in this world if Gastronomical Conquest is not part of your daily adventure?

Gastronomical harmony!

Conversely speaking, I weep each time I think of those poor blades of wheat being cruelly chopped and run through a harvester. Ripped to shreds with it's innards blown out and the exterior remains bundled into workable bales. It's too much for my sensitivity to handle.

As there's a big difference between killing an animal (arguably as conscious as a toddler) and killing a grown human, there's a difference between killing an animal and killing a blade of grass.

Also, there's a difference between rapidly killing an animal and torturing it for most of its adult life.

[Andy Schecter]

What is the use of living in this world if Gastronomical Conquest is not part of your daily adventure?

Careful Jay, that's pretty much what Hannibal Lecter said, too.

[onocoffee]

Liberals - bah!

For next years' Great Lakes Regional Barista Championship I am planning on serving my espressos in cups shaped with Foie Gras on a bed of Wheat Thins.

Let the City of Chicago fine and arrest me - it will make for a grand media spectacle.

[Mark Prince]

Conversely speaking, I weep each time I think of those poor blades of wheat being cruelly chopped and run through a harvester. Ripped to shreds with it's innards blown out and the exterior remains bundled into workable bales. It's too much for my sensitivity to handle.

OMG Jay - unbelievably weak.

I was gonna keep quiet, but you know what - kudos to those who did the ban; it's an excessively cruel way to satisfy a few sheltered tastebuds (given the price). I'll be happy to go to Chicago and know it's foie gras free.

And jay - I don't know how most judges would score you on "overall impression" but I know it'd be worthy a 0 if you were just attempting a media stunt

Mark

[Tim Dominick]

Being the hayseed that I am, the idea of a bunny getting shredded in a combine is not a big deal, though if it ain't an IH or a Massey doin' the killing, then I got a problem.

I remeber my first trip to the slaughter house to pick up a truckload of beef from a cow that we'd dropped off. Walking the killing floor at 8 years old, learning how they used a retractable .44 sized shell was laid into the brain, hearing my grandad lament the fact that this destroyed the scrabble he used to enjoy.

Learning that the only part of a pig you can't eat is the squeal. Making forcemeats, the intoxicating smell of the smokehouse. Man, I could go on about how much I love to eat sausage, ribs and yes, even little bunnies, I can wax poetic about the rituals of the farm. I really do enjoy the gastronomic pleasures of the animal kingdom, but there is a line I won't cross.

Perhaps we can arrange a 3x3x3 stall and a feeding tube for anyone who loves fois gras and veal.

Jay, you ever killed, dressed and cooked a duck? Raised a lamb and had it for dinner?

Lets not forget, Chicago was built on slaughterhouses. If they find the practice of fois gras unacceptable then there is a good chance it might just be cruel.

[onocoffee]

Hmmm-

Getting a "0" in an out of region competition for a pure media stunt where I could make even more noise about being given a zero because I was being persecuted by the Coffee Establishment which might make me into a national folk hero...

Might be worth a trip to the Windy City.


Tim-
Never killed a duck. I don't really like duck. The meat is too oily for me.

But I do love me a HUNK OF FOIE GRAS!!!!!!!

Outside of duck, I've killed, dressed and cooked pigs. Yes, I've grabbed the piglet in a burlap sack by the throat and jammed a blade into it while it screamed bloody murder and watched as the life drained out it it, boiled water and scrapped the hair off the body and cut its' innards out. I've then either cooked it on a spit over a bed of hot coals or buried it in an undergound imu over to cook.

The me, the true horror is chicken. Nothing worse than visiting a chicken ranch (hehehe) where the hens are cooped up in a dizzying array of feces, feathers and dead carcasses. The fowl is so foul that the federal government has deemed them an environmental hazard and the discarded carcasses must be entombed in concrete tanks.

But I'll grind a box of Popeye's Fried Chicken any day - and I've seen where they come from.

[trish]

Jay was Holden Caulfield....and now he's Ted Nugent

[Keith]

Tim- thats scrapple, not scrabble.

[Mark Prince]

Jay was Holden Caulfield....and now he's Ted Nugent

LOL! Very, very accurate assessment!

Mark

[Tim Dominick]

D'oh... Scrapple scrabble its all brains to me....
That was nearly 25 years ago and the thought still makes my stomach turn. Kinda like tripe, which to me is like french kissing your dinner.

[Keith]

my dad loved to grill up some scrapple with eggs for breakfast. he always gaved it to me with maple syrup on it. Growing up in the south, the only thing that makes food better is sugar.

Do they serve scrapple in chicago?

[barry]

Do they serve scrapple in chicago?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fried-brain_sandwich


a st louis institution.


--barry "nope, not me!"