PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Activists protest foie gras
by David McWade Monday, Jun. 19, 2006 at 5:05 PM
mcwadedfx@aol.com

Activists from Voices for Animals protest in front of Casbah restaurant for selling foie gras. The protest took place during Big Burrito's Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture dinner.

On Monday, June 12, Voices For Animals protested in front of Casbah restaurant during Big Burrito Restaurant Group's Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture dinner.

Big Burrito, which owns Casbah, serves foie gras at some of its restaurants, including Casbah. Foie gras is the enlarged liver of a duck or goose, and results from an extremely cruel farming practice in which the duck or goose is force fed up to a third of its body weight each day (or 21 lbs per week). The production of foie gras has been banned in a dozen countries, including Israel, Sweden, Norway, the U.K., Switzerland and Germany, and bans have been passed in the state of California and the city of Chicago. Voices for Animals has succeeded in persuading nine local restaurants to stop selling foie gras.

During foie gras production, birds' livers become grossly enlarged up to ten times their normal size. This creates a painful liver disease known as hepatic lipidosis. Past investigations at foie gras farms have revealed factory farming conditions. Force feeding wreaks such havoc on these birds' bodies that ducks are not able to walk or even stand up properly. Ducks were kept in such tight confinement that little room is allowed for any movement, ducks are denied water to swim in, and many ducks were uncovered who were severely sick or dying from disease, infection, and force-feeding induced conditions.

Voices for Animals chose this event to protest to note the hypocrisy of the restaurant chain having a dinner to ostensibly promote sustainable agriculture while such resources (21 lbs of grain per week per bird) are wasted to produce foie gras. Voices for Animals showcased a display filled with 21 lbs of grain to remind the chain's clientele that Big Burrito cannot be truly supportive of sustainable agriculture if it continues to sell foie gras. The protest was also intended to expose the cruelty of foie gras production to the public.

VFA's spokesman Jon Farinelli stated that "Big Burrito has shown that it is not genuinely interested in social or environmental responsibility, but rather in raking in the profits of a particular market niche." Big Burrito broke a previous agreement made in June of 2004 with Voices For Animals to remove the delicacy from its menus.

Meat eater against foie gras
by Some dude Tuesday, Jul. 11, 2006 at 12:33 AM

I'm not a fan of the whole veg thing but good job fighting foie gras. Veal needs to go too.