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Oct 4, 2007 Fowl
Play: Philly and Foie Gras Restaurants that serve foie gras have had a hard go of it lately in Philadelphia. First, the activist group Hugs for Puppies began showing up at mealtimes, shouting that the delicacy, the liver of a force-fed duck or goose, is inhumane. Then, Councilman Jack Kelly announced he was considering following Chicago's lead and introducing a bill to ban the dish entirely. Some restaurateurs have decided that fighting these anti-foie-gras forces isn't worth the trouble — Stephen Starr, for instance, removed the dish from his menus. But others have decided to meet them head on. Chief among these have been Michael and Terry McNally, the proprietors of Fairmount's London Grill. Terry has become a public voice in favor of foie gras, giving quotes to numerous newspapers (including this one) about the subject. And this week, along with about 20 other restaurants, London launched "Freedom Foie for Five," the confusing alliterative title for a week of $5 foie gras appetizers (they usually run upward of $15). The idea is to build demand for the delicacy. The strange thing about London Grill's prominence in this debate is that the restaurant, best known for its burgers, barely even had foie gras on the menu before this controversy — it used it only in a steak sauce. We got to wondering: Why are they so adamant about this? Do they just hate ducks? There are no protesters at London Grill on the first day of "Freedom Foie" — the McNallys got an injunction against them. Sitting inside, the formerly married couple briefly contends that Terry has been to the foie gras farm, and doesn't consider its practices brutal. But asked whether they would purchase the ingredient from a less humane facility, they say they aren't sure. Michael also delivers a monologue about foie gras, saying it tastes "like sex" and lauding its versatility in a manner reminiscent of Bubba's shrimp speech from Forrest Gump ("you can make pate, crème brülée, flan ... "). The driving force behind the McNallys' crusade, though, has little to do with foie gras and everything to do a "sliding scale" theory of food regulation. "What's next?" asks Terry, who was adamantly opposed to the smoking and trans-fat bans. "[The protesters] are against all livestock agriculture." "Lobster, veal," says Michael. "This whole obesity thing. I think it's whacked." The McNallys are, essentially, giving foie gras away to fend off what they fear is an oncoming encroachment of government in their industry. Their customers don't mind. Norman Hilton went to Paris last year just to take a course in foie gras preparation. Now, he sits at table 31, enjoying numerous courses of the good stuff. The ethics, he says, don't concern him. "If it's a lower animal than I am," he declares, "I get to eat it."
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