Mon 21 Sep 2009 12:42 am
I’ve been leaving it to the West Seattle Blog to chronicle the new incarnation of Gabriel Claycamp’s Swinery, but I checked out the website today when I saw the shop was scheduled to open. Check out the bottom of this page — an eye-opener for every restaurateur who’s kept a low profile on serving foie gras, hoping to avoid controversy. Here’s the gauntlet Claycamp throws down:
“FOIE GRAS: We carry it. It isn’t local, it is from Hudson Valley, NY. Why? Because we love it and believe in it. And we are giving the finger to those who don’t. By focusing hate on foie gras producers and chefs who serve it, protestors have effectively given permission for the cruelty that takes place in the rest of the meat industry. Our products are cruelty free… and we say this with a strait (sic) face. Hudson Valley is humane and sane way to raise ducks. We have been there, and seen it with our own eyes. When someone opens a local foie gras farm, we will switch, but we will always carry foie gras. Protestors are welcome to come any time, but we recommend Fridays… nothing sells the foie like some idiot with a bullhorn spouting things they have read on the internet. Anytime there are protestors, we start sampling free foie and sauternes…bring it.”
That’s our Gabe.
But what VINTAGE of Sauternes??
He’s right of course… where are the protesters of factory farmed… well anything - chicken, beef, etc. Oh right, foie gras is for ‘rich people’ and chicken is OK because it’s for the rest of us… um… I thought the issue was animal cruelty?
OK then, I need to eat here on principle. Can’t wait to try it!
Gabriel apparently has actually visited Hudson Valley and has been present during the gavage feeding to which the geese apparently eagerly run up to the feeder. The fact that the niche sale of foie raises controversy (while the factory farms that produce food for places like McDonalds and KFC) is simply because it is low-hanging political fruit. Politicos gain whip up a lot of attention with impunity because it is “rich people” food.