California may be the first state to outright ban the production and sale of foie gras. It wouldn’t apply to every form of foie gras, mind you, just the kind that’s produced via the controversial method used to dramatically increase the size of the duck or goose’s liver. Evil as it may be (hey, I’m not denying that) it’s an industry standard practice.
Me, I love the stuff. I try not to think about what I’m eating, or how it was produced, but you can’t argue with the taste. Fortunately it’s far, far too expensive to eat on anything resembling a regular basis, so I don’t feel too guilty to be supporting such an evil thing.
Still, there are better ways to deal with this issue than to ban it. That article suggests — and I agree with this idea — that the way to do it is to let the market sort itself out. Over time, there’s very little doubt in my mind that more humanely developed foie gras will eventually overtake this method, but people (and their chefs) need to be given the chance to make that choice on their own.