Wolfgang Puck Sends Letter Supporting End to Foie Gras Sales

From Sfist.com....

Although his gastronomic reputation has, let's fact it, been marred due to his frozen food and canned soup lines, Spago founder and chef Wolfgang Puck still has some pull. So, he penned an open letter to California restaurants still serving foie gras. And the letter, sent by Puck in February, was intended to sooth the frayed nerves of chefs who don't like being told what they can and cannot serve at their spoons. (As you know, foie gras will be banned at the start of July this year.) Vegansaurus' wonderful Laura Beck (by way of SF Weekly) got her hot hands on the letter. Check it:

Foie Gras to Be Banned in California

Apparently, this will happen in 8 months. I had no idea!

Excerpted from The New York Times.....

In eight months, the sale of foie gras will be banned in California. But for seven hours on Friday night, at a restaurant appropriately known as Animal, three chefs presented an eight-course meal that was nothing short of a glorification of this soon-to-be-outlawed delicacy. There was smoked foie gras, roasted foie gras, steamed foie gras and liquefied foie gras, injected into agnolotti. It was served with veal tongue, yogurt, prosciutto, mustard ice cream and truffles. There was even a foie gras dessert: a brownie sundae with foie gras Chantilly.

With all its gluttonous excess, and with the backdrop of the animal rights protesters, the sold-out dinner became the fattiest of food as political protest, offering a clash of competing passions in a battle that has reverberated across the nation but finally settled here, the first state in the nation to criminalize the sale of foie gras, the fattened liver of a goose or a duck.

It was also a perhaps belated realization by these chefs and their fans that a law signed eight years ago is truly taking effect and is about to change the way they do business drastically, putting California on the front lines of the battle about force-feeding ducks and geese to produce the silky liver delicacy.

Ezra Klein Discusses Meals Without Meat

I know some people won't read this piece simply because Ezra Klein is not vegan or even vegetarian, but I think he makes some excellent points. A lot of the meat-based meals in restaurants are due to chefs schooled in the French tradition. And, as one chef put it, cooks use meat to "express themselves."

Well, I think this article makes some good points. It's not about cooking "vegetarian," but cooking food you like that doesn't have meat. Other cultures don't have such a problem because meatless dishes are simply more prevalent.

Anyway, I appreciated his views.

PETA Targets Live Octopus Meals...in New York!

Live octopus are apparently being served LIVE in some New York restaurants. Good grief! Octopus are highly intelligent creatures...not that ANY creature should suffer like this. PETA is arguing that this practice violates New York's anti-cruelty laws.

It's apparently a practice around the world. This link has a video with some examples.

Ezra Klein Bemoans Vegetarian Fare at Restaurants

This is an article that really hits the mark. Ezra Klein talks about the lack of vegetarian options at a restaurant he attended. Why do people assume that vegetarians eat nothing but vegetables? We eat LOTS of things. I find it very insulting that we are pigeon-holed in our food choices. But this is another example of the general ignorance displayed in restaurants and cooking shows like Top Chef. Real food only comes with meat. If you don't eat it, then you must not enjoy food that much. Have a carrot!

Seal Meat Served in Canada

Definitely a niche market,but demand has been increasing. And this is despite the bad press received by the annual seal hunts.

For time immemorial seal has been eaten -- raw -- as a traditional food by indigenous people such as the Inuit.

It also has been a traditional food for generations of hunters in Canada's east who serve it up roasted, or sometimes with a hearty Burgundy sauce.

Now, rustic seal has been carted out by back-to-basics foodies dressed up as a gourmet delight, particularly inspiring diners in mostly French-speaking Quebec province, where there is a devoted food-lovers' culture.

Many diners are huge fans of its taste, describing the mammal's meat as somewhere between duck and veal.

Gordon Ramsey's Food Empire in Trouble

Before I start, let me make it clear that I watch the British version of Kitchen Nightmares and I really enjoy it. I did NOT like Gordon Ramsey in the American show Hell's Kitchen, but in the BBC show, he actually comes across as a human being who sometimes cares about people and has a real love of food.

But, Gordon Ramsey disdains vegetarians, and that puts him on my hit list.

So, it was with great interest that I saw that his empire of "everything dead on the plate" is in a bit of trouble. Most of it is economic and, of course, part of it is due to the absurd number of affairs he appears to have had.

So I guess no one is perfect. Even vegetarian-hating super chefs.

Rising Chef David Chang Won't Kowtow to Vegetarians

What's the big deal about having vegetarian dishes? Since when are vegetarians so threatening? Why the discrimination? And what's with the dead pig?

David Chang seems over the top to me. And a few other choice words that I probably shouldn't write.

But, he's a STAH! And the bigger a jerk he is, probably the more media he'll get.