Foie Gras

by Paul Giacobbe

Several viewers didn’t think there was much class displayed in the Johnson & Wales Cooking with Class segment that aired last week, and which featured a recipe for Foie Gras Toast Sauternes Gelee.  Fur, veal and foie gras, it seems, have something in common.

“I am very disappointed that your station would support Foie Gras,” wrote Elizabeth Castigliego. “If you only knew how much pain and suffering these birds endured for your eating pleasure. I am so upset, I am not sure I will watch your show anymore. To me, your episode today on Cooking with Class showed NO CLASS.”
Ms. Castigliego included with her email a video produced by the Humane Society of the United States. http://www.hsus.org/video_clips/foie_gras_.html

Foie gras, according to Wikipedia, is produced through the force feeding of geese, a procedure known as gavage.  The Humane Society website depicts the geese being force fed with a metal tube inserted into their throats.

Cindy Benevides also emailed about the cooking segment, and included the same link to the Humane Society.:

“I am very surprised that you would support Foie Gras in your cooking.  Maybe you don’t
know how much suffering goes into the production of this “delicacy”?  There
is a LOT of pan and suffering endured by the birds for this.  I hope you
will have more class in the future and not encourage items that are produced
out of such misery for any animal.”

In response to the viewer complaints a spokesman for Johnson & Wales offered the following:

“Johnson & Wales University offers its apologies to any viewers offended by the use of foie gras in a recent “Cooking with Class” segment.  We will not be using foie gras again in any future “Cooking with Class” episodes.”
The Wikipedia site, for more information about foie gras, is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foie_gras
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NBC10 provides the space for this blog, but any opinions are mine alone. – Paul Giacobbe.