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And I find it sad that on a food site, more people aren't posting something to the effect of "don't ban my food." I'll second this. I'm pleased that someone posted a link to the actual bill, since it appears nowhere in the original article that started this discussion. I am also not surprised to learn that the bill was not put to a vote, but rather signed into law by the then governor.

Thank you for your perspective, DianaB, and especially for all of the information on French technique of foie gras production.

Yes! Isn't that representative government thingy great!

Nice blog, Alcuin! I love all of the German things. Must you buy beer at a distributor in Wisco or is it for sale in shops and not just bars?

Great minds think alike.

Well said, Scoop.

If there are people who do that, that is pretty silly on their part. It is bigoted.

Jenni, I don't know how pervasive PETA is in India or if they have a presence there at all. Here in the US, they are ubiquitous. Starlets pose in the nude on huge billboards claiming they'd go naked before they'd wear fur. Well, okay. You could say that with your clothes on, sweetheart. They have compared the slaughter of chickens to the Holocaust of the Jews and declared them morally equivelant. My point is, they are provocoteurs. If they don't like foie, don't eat it or go to establishements that serve it. It's like anything else that makes one uncomfortable. I dislike sacriligious art galleries. I don't view them. On the topic of food, there are a number of ethnic delicacies that I won't eat. Balouts come to mind. Do I want them banned? Only if I am eating next to the person enjoying them.

Charge them double, Scotty. That way they'll feel extra special. Scoop: I said plenty and a fat lot of good it did.

I am not referring to all vegetarians, I am referring to those who wish to impose bans on others who do not share the same beliefs. In my case, that would be that my views and PETAs are diametrically opposed. To them I say, "When my mother dies, I'll give you the job." I'm sorry if I was not clear.

Obese-Wan, it is because they are know-it-alls and, frankly, bigots. It's easy to make proclaimations for on high. I'd like to see them up to their elbows in a cow trying to turn a calf at three in the morning in the middle of a snowy field before they start telling me my business. Simon_S, I agree. I say, "more for us!" As to your point about smoking, I work in health care and nearly all of the ER doctors and nurses smoke. None of us is going to make it out of here alive, after all.

I think it was Charlie Trotter (Maggie? Is that right?) who was the driver behind the Chicago ban. It was a celeb chef, anyway. I'm with Jenni and Mjx about not making these topics into, well, a food fight everytime they come up. I'm a meat-eater, but I also enjoy vegetarian food. What I really don't like is being lectured to by either side. Animals are dumb animals in that they cannot speak and it is our responsibility to treat them humanely. Humanely does not mean putting them on an equal footing with human beings. PETA is a PITA. They are entitled to their views, of course, just as I am entitled to mine. If I want to take my children to the circus, for instnce, I don't want some 20-something in a tiger costume giving my 6 YO a pamphlet telling them lies about how badly the animals are treated. My family is mainly comprised of farmers and ranchers, so perhaps my views are jaded.

Well, yes and no. First they came for unpasturized milk and I said nothing, because I don't drink milk... It's a slippery slope to start messing with people's food. Granted, most or us (me included) don't have foie gras on our shopping list as a staple, but I don't like the idea of someone telling me what to eat. I have a tendency to say "What business is it of yours?" The film I've seen of the ducks and geese (geese are nasty bite-y buggers, btw) raised for foie show them running to be fed. They are being raised for slaughter no matter how "kind" the conditions. Birds throats are quite different than ours and it doesn't hurt them to be force fed. It looks creepy, of course, but they eat gravel, for pete's sake.

Speakeasys. "Jacques sent me."

I read this article this morning. It'll just go "underground" the way it did in Chicago when they tried this. People need to learn that Prohibition is the road to Black Markets.

I'm looking forward to this! Thanks you in advance.

Hey, stuff happens. I have lovingly prepared stock and then strained it through a colander---directly down the drain instead of ito the container that was sitting on the countertop.

Thanks for blogging, Randi. Julie sounds like a keeper. Take good care of her!

I was hoping you were going to make fun of Marco Pierre White who is selling Knorr stock "blobs" on the teevee.

That is the biggest hamentashen I have ever seen! What kind of filling?

I've never used the self-cleaning feature on the oven I have now, but I did use it on the oven at my FIL's---once. I figured I would set it to run after I put the children to bed. Bad plan. Off went all of the smoke alarms in the house. That was the last time for me.

Woo Hoo! That will be great!

I also say Alcuin.

Not if you like your liver. I agree on the benedryl.

Congratulations!