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Oct 5, 2007 Philadelphia
New Front in the Battle Over Foie Gras Animal rights activists claim that nearly 40 prominent Philadelphia restaurants have taken foie gras off the menu in the past two years. Some owners and chefs made the decision themselves, but others were clearly responding to pressure by animal rights groups in the city of brotherly love. One of the groups bringing that pressure to bear is Hugs for Puppies, which is run by animal rights activist Nick Cooney. Cooney said when he targets a restaurant, his group tries to set up meetings with the owner or chef. Sometimes, he said, a chef will agree with the group’s position that the production of foie gras is cruel to the ducks or geese involved in the process, and will agree to stop serving it. But if the restaurant doesn’t go along, the picket signs go up, and they have been effective. It has been Cooney’s experience that the chef or owner of most restaurants will agree to drop foie gras after just a few picketing sessions. A source close to the restaurant industry in Philadelphia, who preferred to remain anonymous, agreed. He said many owners found it was easier to give in to the demands of the activists rather than try to fight them. But that is not always the case. The owner of Le Bec Fin, for example, went to court and got an order that the picketers must stay at least 15 feet away from the front door of his establishment. For the really stubborn owners and chefs - and Cooney said there are only three left in Philadelphia, including London Grille, that regularly lists foie gras on the menu?Cooney has produced websites that carry the group’s message. A person who goes to www.LondonGrillPollutes.com encounters attacks against not only the restaurant, but also against Hudson Valley Foie Gras (HVFG), located in Ferndale, NY, which is one of three companies in the United States that produces foie gras. The website accuses HVFG of multiple sins including this one: “A cocktail of chemicals flows from the facility's discharge pipe directly into the Middle Mongaup River.” This is the sort of line the raises the ire of HVFG manager Marcus Henley. He called the web campaign “nasty” and said it is full of distortions. While he admits that the company was fined by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, he rejects any notion that there is any ongoing pollution. To underscore the point, the company invited this reporter and another one from Chicago to tour the facility on August 8, and have a look at the millions of dollars of infrastructure that have been put in place in the past few years to deal with the duck waste produced at the facility. While no tests were performed during the tour, the small stream of water leaving the facility and heading for the river certainly looked clean, and the efforts taken to manage the waste seemed impressive. The other point made by the website is one repeatedly made by animal activists: that force-feeding ducks is painful and cruel. During the tour, the ducks were fed through a tube inserted into their throats. After the feeding, the ducks did not seem particularly upset. Izzy Yanay, one of the HVFG owners, said tests have been done on the physiology of the ducks, and show without question that they are not “stressed” when force-fed. Most animal rights activists would object anyway, because they are opposed to just about all “concentrated animal feed operations.” It’s not clear why the foie gras issue seemed to land in Philadelphia with greater force than other big cities, such as New York or Boston. It is clear, though, that the issue has not gained much traction with politicians there. A Philadelphia city councilman tried in April 2006 to introduce a ban on foie gras similar to the one adopted in Chicago, but the effort went nowhere. What is also clear is that people on both sides of the battle are not going to easily give up the fight. Cooney does not get a regular salary from his work with Hugs for Puppies, and works part time at other jobs to support himself. But, he said, he believes in what he’s doing. Certainly Henley, too, believes in what he is doing, and believes in the 160 employees of HVFG who labor daily to produce the controversial delicacy. Also, some restaurateurs are joining in a backlash of sorts. More than a dozen Philadelphia restaurants have signed on to offer a program called "Freedom Foie for Five," which will feature lunch and dinner foie gras dishes priced at $5 per serving to expose more people to the product. The program began on October 1, and was scheduled to run through the end of the week. Also, according to a Philadelphia newspaper, Terry McNally, co-owner of London Grill, has scheduled a foie gras dinner for later this month, and one of the invited guests is the other owner of HVFG, Michael Ginor.
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