True Stories that I Like: The Best Foie Gras in the world.

Foie Gras is fatty liver. It was reportedly invented by the Jews in Egypt and has been a delicacy for more than 2000 years. The foie gras that we know is produced in France and according to French law, proper foie gras is made using a process called gavage, which is force feeding the goose or the duck with corn so that it fattens quickly thus causing the liver to expand exponentially. Producers use corn because proper foie gras, needs to be yellow. If it is not yellow, then the goose or duck liver will be judged as having lower quality and will thus not be be accepted. The story of foie gras is the story of industrial agricultural production over the last 3000 years.
This bird liver is so popular that more than a million kilos are produced annually in France to satiate the demand of the market. Originally it was a seasonal food that was eaten in the fall but thanks to the demand of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh, production became a year round process. In a short period of time — a few weeks, Geese and ducks are force fed more grain than they would need in their lifetime. The word gorging or forced gluttony would best describe what the bird has to undergo before being slaughtered and having its liver harvested.
But there is a place in western Spain, north of Seville along the Portuguese border that goes against the demands of the industrial process of gavage. This place is the farm of Eduardo de Sousa. De Sousa has managed to create a farm for his geese. It is by no means an industrial farm. The 1200-acre land serves his geese. The farm has olive and fig trees but they foremost used to feed his birds. Anything not eaten by the birds is sold to market. De Sousa admits he could earn more limiting the amount of olives and figs the birds eat, but he believes in focusing on the needs of his birds.
In fact, the foie gras from de Sousa’s farm won the prestigious Coup de Cœur award and caused a stir in doing so. The French media accused Eduardo de Sousa of bribing the judges. When they could not find any evidence, they blamed the Spanish government and accused them of bribing the judges. Afterwards, they demanded the award be rescinded because his liver did not fit the legal definition of foie gras meaning gavage.
But de Sousa has continued with his ethical production. Another fun fact: the liver and pate are only produced in the fall. Even better, he uses as humane a method in slaughtering the geese as possible. At the time of slaughter, he shines a bright light into their eyes and cuts their throat. There is no stressful process of putting the animal in a slaughterhouse and causing it to panic. The animal is stunned and killed. There is no loud band, nothing.
Add to this, he does not salt or pepper the meat during packing. Rather, his farm has plants that the geese eat freely.
While there is not perfect way in meat production, I believe Eduardo de Sousa is at least trying to practice an ethical and sustainable way of farming. This story caught my attention and excited me because it is a story of someone producing food in the modern age but with a certain degree of virtue and integrity. It is non-industrial and harkens back to a certain simplicity. When de Sousa was asked if any famous chefs had sought after his goose liver, he is said to have retorted that chefs don’t deserve his foie gras.
For more information about this story see the following links.
‘Ethical’ foie gras from naturally greedy geese