Welcome ban on foie gras in the UK

[Marigold]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/28/mps-unite-to-call-for-total-ban-on-wicked-foie-gras-in-the-uk

I cannot imagine how or why anyone would have first done this to geese, even under Louis VI.

You can still easily buy it on Amazon, never mind Fortnum & Mason.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=foie+gras+goose&adgrpid=53310536615&gclid=Cj0KCQjw0oCDBhCPARIsAII3C_Et1Jte64Xt_Rx6s4xQmWPnf0ofWFFDLtZdIB7n7AAbv2YYRqofGoUaAkfOEALw_wcB&hvadid=259106604619&hvdev=t&hvlocphy=1006476&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=b&hvrand=7149535902413056379&hvtargid=kwd-298555812869&hydadcr=923_1739431&tag=googhydr-21&ref=pd_sl_2exa9myah7_b

(Or how about a little bit of caviar instead?)
https://www.fortnumandmason.com/beluga-ooo-caviar-125g

 

[MrsBiscuit]

As a confirmed carnivore there have been 2 things I have refused to eat - veal and foie gras - for over 30 years because I lived in SW France in 1989 and saw the means of production. I know there are plenty of other horrible animal related practices, but these are my two, although I don't go as far as to try to persuade anybody else, its personal. I know somebody who won't eat sausages since he worked in a production plant as a student, he is now in his 60s, and my brother spent a week in a local egg producer as a schoolboy, and then refused to touch battery eggs which isn't surprising. I think things you experience as a youngster can mark you deeply. In France we lived on a farm, and it took me months before I realised there were calves being kept in a small barn, just big enough to house a tractor. I know rose veal isn't raised the same way, and indeed, it could be a good thing to eat as a male calf will have some life, but I just can't do it. We found the piece of equipment to force feed geese, and had no idea what it was, and had to ask the farmer, I still remember the word for the process in French 'le gavage'. Living in Portugal I have had to come to terms with animals for meat and their living conditions, all over again. I am in a very rural place, and in a poor community. Animals are still kept in small stone barns, just a few for the family, its understandable in the heat. Goats range every day, but sheep rarely, although I have seen them grazing vineyards in the winter. There are a pair over the road, they were only let out last weekend. As a practice it is dying out, because I think it is illegal to slaughter your own now, although I know people who do it, its a bit disconcerting to walk past a garage with a dead goat hanging, or past an old woman plucking a chicken by the side of the road! However, because I understand more about social dynamics I am a lot less judgemental than I was, although we do try to source food ethically and I respect the fact that the whole animal is used and enjoyed.