Surly's Soap Box

***NEWS FLASH***

In a small farming community outside Chicago, the Joint Meth/Foie Gras Gang Task force take down another clandestine "lab".

Farmer Brown is seen being taken away in hand cuffs while his wife and children are huddled together on the front porch.

A Fox Cops camera crew catches it all on film.

"It's just sad." A masked undercover agent said, "Used to be that, on occasion, some of these small farms might grow some pot to subsidize their income, or even cook up meth. But with Foie Gras going at $250 a pound, these farmers are turning in their grow lights and glass beakers for PVC tubes."

In a scene familiar to the inner city "crack avenues", foie gras fanatics are cruising up and down the back country roads, hoping to score. Men dressed in chef coats, often carrying thier "rigs" (implements needed to partake in foie gras, similar to a heroine addicts needle and syringe), help prepare and serve foie gras to their clients in run down, substandard shacks, trailer homes and R.V's.

"I knew something fishy was going on there." Farmer Brown's neighbor said. "All those Mercedes and Audis pulling in and out of his drive way at all hours of the night."

CHICAGO — The goose liver delicacy foie gras was banned from restaurants Wednesday in a measure approved by the Chicago City Council after members decided it was inhumane to force-feed the birds.

"Our city is better for taking a stance against the cruelty of foie gras," said Alderman Joe Moore, who sponsored the ordinance.

Mayor Richard Daley opposed the measure.

"We have children getting killed by gang leaders and dope dealers. We have real issues here in this city," said Daley, the Chicago Sun-Times reported on its Web site. "Let's get some priorities."

Rich and buttery, foie gras, pronounced fwah-GRAH and French for "fat liver," often is served sliced and pan-seared, frequently with fruit or atop greens or a cut of steak or veal.

To fatten the liver of waterfowl, a tube is often inserted into their throats twice a day and partially cooked corn is pumped down the esophagus.

Several Chicago restaurateurs opposed the ban, saying they did not want politicians meddling with a product steeped in tradition. But others had stopped serving it before the ban was approved.

California is the only state to ban the force-feeding of birds to produce the gourmet liver product, having passed a measure that would end the practice by 2012.

More than a dozen countries, mostly in Europe, have banned production of the delicacy on the grounds of cruelty. But in France, foie gras has been declared "part of the cultural and gastronomic patrimony, protected in France."

By the way, foie gras does run about $250 a lb right now. I'm going with France on this one.




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