In Defense of Chef Chris Cosentino's Foie Gras
Incanto’s corzetti dish. Photograph by Zach Brooks
Eat Me Daily reports that chef Chris Cosentino of San Francisco's Incanto recently received a video and letter from anti-foie gras protesters, urging him to stop his signature culinary move: animal organs.
In response, the restaurant put together a 3,000-word piece called Shock & Foie, which defends foie gras, one of the few debates in the food word that is so "controversial, emotional, and fraught with moral peril."
Serious Eater Zach Brooks was just in the Bay Area and dined at Incanto: "As somebody who ate there last week, I can honestly say (putting all morality aside, of course) it would be a crime against stomachs everywhere if Cosentino were to never make this again: Corzetti with trotters, foie gras, dates, and pangrattato. Oh my god, so good. Easily my favorite dish of the night."
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7 Comments:
I would be willing to bet a fair sum of money that the ducks and geese at the small farms where foie gras is made (I don't think there's a big enough demand for foie for it to be produced on a larger scale, though I could be mistaken) are treated a million times better than, say, the chickens at your average industrial egg farm.
MichaelN at 1:01PM on 03/09/09
To a large degree, this is a case of anthropomorphism. The linked piece from Incanto basically describes how gavage is done...the studies show that it isn't ALL that unpleasant for the animal. Eating foie gras is, IMHO, no morally different than eating any other animal product.
lawofmurphy at 1:27PM on 03/09/09
Shouldn't we be encouraging the use of all parts of the animals we slaughter and eat (and savor)? Although I won't eat liver, I know I should because only eating the flesh or choicest parts of animals is a serious luxury which I should appreciate.
Likewise, being able to choose not to eat this or that (like not eating meat at all) is a privilege that is severely under appreciated. But that's another topic.
krisp at 1:59PM on 03/09/09
Agreed, this is a case of anthropomorphism. It's surprising to me that protestors are going after someone like Chris Cosentino, who is such a proponent of sustainable eating where every bit of the animal is used. In any case, Incanto is one of my favorite restaurants, hands down. And this reminds me, I'm due for another visit.
yogurtsoda at 2:45PM on 03/09/09
I want to preface this by saying that I am a meat-eater, I do not condone the extremist tactics of many "animal rights" groups, and I do not support a ban on foie gras. I fully agree that it is an "easy target", that people should be more concerned about industrial agriculture, etc, etc.
That said, the fatal flaw in the pro-foie position from a humanitarian standpoint is that we are producing a disease state (hepatic lipidosis), and the very delicacy we aim for is the diseased organ itself. The argument that migrating waterfowl gorge themselves naturally is bunk for various reasons. It is certainly true that we produce a great deal more disease as a result of industrial production conditions (feedlots, battery cages, veal crates, gestation pens, etc.), but at least in theory those practices could be eliminated, and we could produce beef, dairy, eggs, poultry, and pork (and even veal) from happy, healthy animals. It's not really possible to produce foie gras from "natural" and physiologically healthy ducks (or at least it is not being done in the US that I am aware of).
sfchin at 6:35PM on 03/09/09
I'm veg, but I have no issue with people eating sustainable, humanely raised meat. (I accept that most people eat mass-produced meat, but I don't like it.)
My issue with foie gras is that I'm not sure it *can* be produced humanely. It's essentially induced disease, which is cruel by nature. Now, I'm not going to start harassing chefs, but I wish those who jumped on the organic/local/etc. bandwagon would take the moral road here, too.
piccola at 8:56PM on 03/09/09
This is really a great treatise on liberty and political behaviors that just happens to be about foie gras. Chris could just as easily be talking about another hot topic issue, say gun control, without any change in the logic behind his arguments.
At any rate, I'll have to try and celebrate by consuming more than my per capita 1/400 of an ounce.
lagomorph at 4:46PM on 03/10/09