Norman Kolpas - Foie Gras: A Global History

FOIE GRAS

Edible

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A Global History

Norman Kolpas

REAKTION BOOKS

Published by Reaktion Books Ltd

Unit 32, Waterside

4448 Wharf Road

London N1 7UX, UK

www.reaktionbooks.co.uk

First published 2021

Copyright Norman Kolpas 2021

All rights reserved

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers

Page references in the Photo Acknowledgements and
Index match the printed edition of this book.

Printed and bound in India by Replika Press Pvt. Ltd

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

eISBN 978 1 78914 378 2

Foie gras: the name says it all in two succinct French words that translate simply as fat or fatty (the adjectival gras part) and liver (foie). Yet, the mere utterance of that rhyming syllabic pair is more likely to send omnivore food lovers into rapturous swoons of anticipation and animal rights activists into paroxysms of outrage than any other foodstuff known to humankind. Why is foie gras such a dramatically polarizing subject? Even the briefest explanation reveals the cause.

The hyper-fattened liver of a duck or goose, foie gras tastes to many of its devotees like a sort of heavenly hybrid between meat and the richest butter or cream, coupled with a meltingly smooth texture that beguiles the tongue whether the foie gras is served hot as a rapidly pan-seared slice or more gently cooked and then presented cold. It inspires recipes that range from classic simplicity to high-flying artistic creativity, and, beyond those logical extremes, from culinary excess to pop culture absurdity. Self-proclaimed gourmets have been known to extol foie gras as the pinnacle of gastronomic luxury.

Its important to note, as a quick aside, the differences between the foie gras of geese and ducks. For many centuries, foie gras came primarily from geese the Landes and Toulouse species eventually becoming the most reliable sources. But goose foie gras a larger liver with a generally subtler flavour than the product from ducks is a more seasonal product relying on the breeding habits of the bird. This is why in the twentieth century ducks gradually became the primary source of foie gras, the industry coming to rely upon the Mulard duck, a sterile hybrid of female Pekin and male Muscovy ducks that is easily bred year-round for a more consistent supply of the plump liver.

Regardless of the source, the many people opposed to foie gras revile it as the nadir of humankinds cruelty to animals. They focus, understandably, on how that prized liver is fattened: through a force-feeding process that pushes to the extreme the natural impulse of geese and ducks to overeat before they migrate so that they can store in their livers reserves of energy for the long flight ahead. The result, as food scientist Harold McGee describes in his authoritative book On Food and Cooking, is a kind of living pt, ingeniously prepared in the growing bird before its slaughtered.

As with many contentious topics, arguments both reasonable and extreme can be made in support of the opposing sides in the foie gras controversy. Leading admirers have savoured its pleasures and sung its praises down through the centuries and up to the present day. I happen to think that foie gras is one of the most delicious things on earth and one of the ten most important flavours in gastronomy, proclaimed the late chef, author and television culinary explorer Anthony Bourdain (without going on to enumerate what those other nine flavours were).

A goose being raised for foie gras in the Gers region of southwest France.

Foie grass opponents, however, argue that no level of human bliss should ever be achieved at the expense of an animals suffering. They focus their attention largely on the force-feeding practice known by the French term gavage, a

Such inflamed passions should lead those who strive to understand issues with more level heads to hit the pause button and more calmly examine these highly complicated issues. Thats the stance this book resolutely aims to take. Yes, there are documented cases of cruelty in the traditional production of foie gras. Yet a good many of those cases focus on old-fashioned methods of gavage, while modern foie gras producers strive for more responsible animal husbandry and treat the birds they raise and, yes, eventually slaughter in efficient and humane ways, even mechanizing gavage to maximize production efficiency while minimizing the risk of trauma to the animals.