la.foodblogging

Saw this article earlier today. Looks like it’s time to fill up on foie gras.

Chicago City Council bans foie gras

CHICAGO, April 26 (UPI) — The Chicago City Council Wednesday made the “city of big shoulders” the first in the nation to ban the expensive fatty bird liver delicacy foie gras.

Beginning this June, restaurants must stop selling foie gras, which animal rights activists say is produced by inhumane treatment — force-feeding ducks and geese to enlarge their livers 10 times normal size.

“The fact that there are these other issues that are crying out for attention doesn’t mean that we can’t take a bit of time and address this issue as well,” said Alderman Joe Moore, sponsor of the ordinance.

Moore told the Chicago Sun-Times the ban would not cost taxpayers a nickel or affect city services. But Mayor Richard M. Daley said the council should be spending its time on more pressing issues like drug dealing, education, property taxes and corruption rather than deciding what’s on a menu.

More than 100 Illinois restaurants had voluntarily signed pledges to stop selling foie gras.

A ban on the sale of fois gras in the state of California goes into effect in 2012.

–

Copyright 2006 by United Press International.

By Pauline (see more of her posts).