The Foie Gras Wars: How a 5,000-Year-Old Delicacy Inspired the World's Fiercest Food Fight [Hardcover]

Mark Caro (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 10, 2009

In announcing that he had stopped serving the fattened livers of force-fed ducks and geese at his world-renowned restaurant, influential chef Charlie Trotter heaved a grenade into a simmering food fight, and the Foie Gras Wars erupted. He said his morally minded menu revision was meant merely to raise consciousness, but what was he thinking when he also suggested -- to Chicago Tribune reporter Mark Caro -- that a rival four-star chef 's liver be eaten as "a little treat"? The reaction to Caro's subsequent front-page story was explosive, as Trotter's sizable hometown moved to ban the ancient delicacy known as foie gras while an international array of activists, farmers, chefs and politicians clashed forcefully and sometimes violently over whether fattening birds for the sake of scrumptious livers amounts to ethical agriculture or torture.

"Take a dish with a funny French name, add ducks, top it all off with celebrity chefs eating each other's livers, and that's entertainment," Caro writes. Yet as absurd as battling over bloated waterfowl organs might seem, the controversy struck a serious chord even among those who had never tasted the stuff. Reporting from the front lines of this passionate dining debate, Caro explores the questions we too often avoid: What is an acceptable amount of suffering for an animal that winds up on our plate? Is a duck that lives comfortably for twelve weeks before enduring a few weeks of periodic force-feedings worse off than a supermarket broiler chicken that never sees the light of day over its six to seven weeks on earth? Why is the animal-rights movement picking on such a rarefied dish when so many more chickens, pigs and cows are being processed on factory farms? Then again, how could the treatment of other animals possibly justify the practice of feeding a duck through a metal tube down its throat?

In his relentless yet good-humored pursuit of clarity, Caro takes us to the streets where activists use bullhorns, spray paint, Superglue and/or lawsuits as their weapons; the government chambers where politicians weigh the ducks' interests against their own; the restaurants and outlaw dining clubs where haute cuisine preparations coexist with Foie-lipops; and the U.S. and French farms whose operators maintain that they are honoring tradition, not abusing animals. Can foie gras survive after 5,000 years? Are we on the verge of a more enlightened era of eating? Can both answers be yes? Our appetites hang in the balance.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Veteran Chicago Tribune entertainment reporter Caro expands on his front-page story about a 2005 flap over foie gras with a wide-ranging investigation into the ethical debate surrounding the human consumption of fattened duck liver. Drawing on conflicts in Chicago, Philadelphia and California over whether force-feeding birds should be legislated as torture or standard agricultural practice, Caro presents various positions from duck farmers, chefs and animal rights activists. His chatty arguments between industry players deliver without becoming unnecessarily complicated or resorting to the oversimplification of surveys and superficial media reports. Caro offers descriptions of a vegan activist headquarters, a video depicting a rat burrowing into an injured duck, and traditional farm operations in France. While he pursues his source's agendas with due diligence, he appears reluctant to side completely with gourmands despite describing presumably happy ducks, mouthwatering foie gras meals and even eating a raw duck liver. While he tends to focus on the colorful, entertaining aspects of the food's history and science, Caro's selection of pointed quotes from duck liver lovers and foie gras foes presents an in-depth take on this ongoing food fight. (Mar.)
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From Booklist

In 2006, Chicago’s City Council enacted a ban on the sale of foie gras, one of the summits of gastronomic art. Concerted action by a number of animal-rights advocates armed with photos and videotapes had persuaded one alderman to propose the embargo, and the ordinance sailed through with little debate. Reacting to this governmental interference in their menus, Chicago’s vainest and most celebrated chefs squared off in opposing camps, hurling insults at one another and generally attracting both national and worldwide attention until the ban’s repeal in 2008. Chicago Tribune reporter Caro has documented the full story of this culture contretemps. Reminding that force-feeding poultry dates back to the dawn of recorded history, he investigates the reality of today’s relatively benign treatment of ducks and geese on both American and French farms. He details force-feeding processes that engorge fowls’ livers to succulence and appear so repugnant to urbanites who romanticize rural life. The voluble farmers, entrepreneurs, animal-rights activists, and chefs whom Caro vividly describes rival even the perennially entertaining denizens of Chicago’s City Hall, and it becomes hard to discern who is the silliest goose. --Mark Knoblauch

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (March 10, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416556680
• ISBN-13: 978-1416556688
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #865,334 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thought Provoking Read, April 7, 2009

By 

Kat "kttykat16" (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Foie Gras Wars: How a 5,000-Year-Old Delicacy Inspired the World's Fiercest Food Fight (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

I was pleasantly surprised when reading The Foie Gras Wars at how informative the book was. Having taken many Animal Science, Animal Morality, Species Dissection, and even a Meat Processing class in college, I was expecting The Foie Gras Wars to be a watered down or highly biased "layman's version" of what is really going on in the meat processing industry. It was not.

Mark Caro did a good job of remaining relatively unbiased regarding the moral practices of creating Foie Gras. He gave a detailed history of the delicacy, a startlingly frank explanation of how the animals are force fed into having these giant livers, and the standpoints of many famous chefs on whether or not they would serve this controversial dish. I was so intrigued that I even went online to find videos of Foie Gras production. Some were shocking, while others showed humane treatment of the animals.

While the book does get slow at several points, I believe the information was pertinent. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to get a glimpse into one small section of the meat processing industry. Recommended.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An impressive analysis of a specialized food item!, June 14, 2009

By 

R Schmidt (Honolulu, HI USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Foie Gras Wars: How a 5,000-Year-Old Delicacy Inspired the World's Fiercest Food Fight (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

It's rare that I read a book, and decide I need to develop a university course. The Foie Gras Wars, by Mark Caro, inspired me to do so.

The fatty liver of a force-fed duck or goose, foie gras (Caro notes the correct pronunciation is "fwah grah") is a speciality food item in the United States, but a rather common food item in France. The "foie gras wars" are not an anti-French action spawned by the creators of "Freedom fries," but rather a very focused campaign by animal activists and supporters of the humane treatment of agricultural animals toward this one food production system: the practice of stuffing a tube into the gullets of captive ducks and geese and forcing them to consume more food than they would under "natural" conditions (even in captivity) until they have an extremely fatty liver, affecting even their ability to waddle normally, then being slaughtered and packaged for up-scale restaurants (in the U.S.).

The book begins with the story of well-known Chicago chef Charlie Trotter speaking out against foie gras. What made foie gras different than veal, chickens, or bacon? Caro states the attention given to foie gras as a unique food niche was for the following reasons:

- it has a funny French name,
- it is enjoyed by the relatively affluent,
- it remains unknown to the average Tyson chicken eater,
- it is LIVER, and
- it is made from ducks. "We like ducks."

And, of course, the ducks and geese were force-fed. Foie gras promoter Michael Ginor stated "I would think that any animal that's economically grown suffers some. There's no question that the duck on day 28 of [force] feeding is not as happy as a duck that hasn't been fed. But the question then does become: How does that duck feel compared to, let's say, a woman in her ninth month of pregnancy? I don't think that there's ever a woman in her ninth month of pregnancy who's really psyched about that day" (p. 46). And Grammy-nominated musician Moby, who works with The Humane Society of the United States, thinks that there are more pressing animal welfare needs than foie gras. But, Moby claims, "Like insofar as pot is a gateway drug to harder drugs, banning foie gras to me is like a gateway issue to get people to evaluate their eating habits, kind of like the way veal was... The means of production are so repulsive and so profoundly unethical that once your general consumer becomes aware of it, they'll never eat foie gras again" (p. 112).

And what did Chicago Mayor Daley think when an ordinance was passed banning the sale of foie gras? "I think it's the silliest law that they've ever passed" (p. 142). Ironically, the law banned the sale of a force-fed duck's liver, but not the rest of the bird. The law was later rescinded.

So author Caro travels to France to seek out the origins of this food. He concludes that the French do not fear people making the connection between an animal and food as do American consumers. "[I]n America, it's not good that people realize that what they have on their plate is coming from the farm," stated one French foie gras exporter. In France, "People don't want to be told what to eat," said a French anti-foie gras activist. Instead, activists groups like Stop Gavage focus on culture: "How on earth can you say that a barbaric custom, consisting of sticking a funnel or a pneumatic pump down the throat of a caged animal, is a tradition of high culture?" (p. 275, Antoine Comiti).

What does Caro think? "Slaughter happens." "Food isn't just fuel. It's a source of pleasure, and if some people love foie gras the way others love chicken nuggets, who are we to say one dish is frivolous while the other is acceptable? At the same time, the fact that some chefs can prepare fantastic foie gras dishes has no bearing on whether the birds are treated humanely" (p. 280-281). In other words, it's complicated. But he admits, "Truth be told, my diet had become decidedly less healthy since I'd begun my immersion into the world of foie gras" (p. 317). His doctor, after checking Caro's cholesterol levels, was more blunt: "You're done eating foie gras." Caro didn't argue.


At the beginning of this book, probably during the first chapter, I was already wondering how Caro was going to write an entire book on this one issue. By the end, I felt I had a deeper, richer understanding of foie gras production, the arguments both for and against its production and use, its history, and some of the politics of food choices. I think that this was Caro's goal for the reader.

And I don't think Caro would argue.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An unbiased and informative read, May 21, 2009

By 

Melkor "dark lord" (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Foie Gras Wars: How a 5,000-Year-Old Delicacy Inspired the World's Fiercest Food Fight (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

Note on reviewer (my bias): I am a foodie and a meat eater.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Mark Caro's assessment of the Foie Gras situation. That's the best way to describe it: "The Foie Gras Situation". Because, as Mark points out, this is about more than eating the livers (and thereby bodies) of force-fed ducks. This is about really thinking about what it means to be a connessoir.

Marc begins the book by talking about how Foie Gras first came to controversy in Chicago. Then he goes through a brief history of the dish, dating back to ancient Egyptian times. Following that he explores the different methods of creating it, and gives even handed voice to both the farmers who produce it as well as the activists who wish to stop it. He examines the information and misinformation produced by both sides.

It seems like most of the Foie Gras farmers will be the first to admit that this "new" dish to the modern pallet went through some growing pains. This new industry has to learn things like "cages=bad" and different feeding methods that could be less stressful to the animals.

The author goes through details of variety of movements to ban Foie Gras, as well as attempts to keep the small farmers viable. I ended the book pretty much in the same boat as the author. I'm not not sure what to think. This is not because force feeding could be considered "cruel", no matter how much pain is taken to reduce the the stress on the animal. The conflict comes because any form of animal eating is going to be considered "cruel" to a certain extent; and some forms (such as egg or milk production...things that most vegetarians eat, BTW) are even worse.

What any meat eater needs to remember is that they need to thank the animal activists for making sure that their food (duck) is being raised in clean and as-humane-as-possible environment. A healthy environment means healthy (and better tasting) food. This is a good thing.

What the activists need to remember is that their lifestyle choice is a belief. It is a dogma, and the more they try to push their beliefs on others; the more backlash they will receive. The activist groups openly admit that they are focusing on Foie Gras because it is a small and easy target on their route to ban all meat. It reminds me tactics used in the 80's when Tipper Gore and the PMRC tried to fine and ban independent label punk bands instead of artists on Sony or Warner because it was "economically viable to our interests". Their goal was to harass small labels and then move on to the majors. The activists say they target Foie Gras as a small goal, and then they'll have a foothold to go after major "factory farms".

This brings us to foodie dilemma: 1) to be a foodie one must enjoy the best of all flavors and tastes available prepared in the most wonderful ways. 2) to be a foodie one is concerned with the production and care taken to produce the ingredients that go into their meals (e.g. is it from local organic produce? is it "real" kobe beef which comes from cows receiving a daily brush and massage? etc.). So what does the foodie do when 1 and 2 come into conflict? I don't think we know that answer to that. I do know that it will be a sad day if people can no longer have [name withheld because I don't want the chef to get protested]'s "prune stuffed gnocchi in foie gras sauce", a dish that I have had pleasant dreams about after first tasting. If one is decidedly a confirmed omnivore, these are the questions they must ask themselves and come to terms with. Being a conscious eater doesn't lesson the experience, and it does not mean that one should be guilty or sorrowful for embracing human nature (once again: omnivore). If anything, it can make eating an even better experience to appreciate what is on the plate, instead of just shoveling the food in our mouths.

I highly recommend this book, filled with (forgive me) food for thought.