France in Focus

We are missing our tinned Black Pudding and tinned Haggis when messing about on the keyboard I came across these nuggets of information.
Iron Bru, Penguin Biscuits and Marmite Banned in Canada
Haggis and Black Pudding Banned in USA
Foreign cheese Banned in Russia
Salt and Pepper Banned in outer space!
And the weirdest one IMHO Tomato Ketchup is Banned in French schools, except for one day a week

I'll upset a few now but the production of foie gras is banned in the uk, now they are talking about banning the importation of it.

Doug wrote: ↑Tue Sep 21, 2021 3:06 pm I'll upset a few now but the production of foie gras is banned in the uk, now they are talking about banning the importation of it.

Good. They can't appreciate it anyway.

I'm going to stick my head out of the parapet and say I wish they'd ban the method used to "produce" foie gras!

Bayleaf wrote: ↑Tue Sep 21, 2021 3:25 pm I'm going to stick my head out of the parapet and say I wish they'd ban the method used to "produce" foie gras!

I'm not going to get into an argument but have you ever visited a producer?

Our old neighbours used to breed their own ducks for foie gras. He was a bit of an inventor and came up with this ingenious contraption to force feed the ducks. It consisted of a funnel with a spiral in it and a handle to turn on the top, he took the handle off of the top and connected it to a drill. Madame would then put the funnel down the duck's throat and turn the drill on which would push the food down the funnel via the spiral.

He did seem most perplexed some mornings when coming out of the barn with a dead duck or two, I assume their stomachs had split due to too much food being shoved into them in one go.

Definitely not the nicest way to produce, although I love foie gras...
I know there are those who produce it sans gavage as even the French are sensitive to the practice.

Doug wrote: ↑Tue Sep 21, 2021 3:27 pm

Bayleaf wrote: ↑Tue Sep 21, 2021 3:25 pm I'm going to stick my head out of the parapet and say I wish they'd ban the method used to "produce" foie gras!

I'm not going to get into an argument but have you ever visited a producer?

No, but if it can be done sans gavage, that would be preferable to Char's story - which is the common method.

There's good producers and bad with the rearing of all animals, same as in abattoires.
Geese and ducks are extreemly gormand and will gobble all in front of them, the producer close to us when back in the Lot had much respect for his flocks.
Thats horrendous [mention]Char[/mention] there's no need for a revolting contraption like that, he should be flogged.
It things like that which gets food production such a bad name.

Agree totally Doug.

We have a local producer who maybe fattens up to 50 ducks for foie gras. He does use gravage, but he gently puts a funnel into their beaks and gently pours the grains into their throats. When he enters the fattening shed all of the ducks crane their necks with beaks open so their is no force used whatsoever even though they are "force" fed.