Buying Luxury Goose Fat for Christmas Roast Potatoes?

Luxury delis and supermarkets around the UK are stocking up on goose and duck fat for making crispy roast potatoes over Christmas. Did you know that ALL French fat from geese or ducks is from foie gras birds? And unless you buy it directly from an artisan farmer who has hand-fed their birds, it will be from intensive farming, using cages for the two weeks of force feeding at the end of the birds' lives.

Shops that have banned foie gras under pressure from activists, media and customers - rather than trying to offer ethically produced foie gras - still sell goose and duck fat from foie gras birds. Places like Harvey Nichols. And the same goes for 'posh-rustic' foods like cassoulet, duck confit and pâtés are included in this by the way - they all contain birds that have been force-fed. Because one great thing about foie gras is that none of the animal is wasted.

In France, even foie gras birds reared in an intensive farming system were free-range in spacious fields for most of their lives. They have much nicer lives than most pigs and chickens. So, foie gras and other products made from foie gras birds are more ethically sound than the vast majority of chicken or pork. But if you're against force-feeding, don't buy French goose or duck fat for your roast spuds! And if you're against foie gras in principle, you cannot justify buying intensively farmed chicken or pork. It is worse than foie gras.

Merry Christmas.

Once Upon A Time

Foie gras is one of my favourite foods, and eating it is almost a spiritual experience for me. The deep, earthy, umami and unfathomable richness transports me to another plain – my reflex is to close my eyes when savouring it.

The media portrayal and public perception of the way foie gras is produced means that lots of people find my enjoyment of it repellent. But the media’s view is skewed. Foie gras is not that bad! I want to tell everyone why it can be a guilt-free pleasure; more so than most animal products. But as with most foods, you need to know how to identify animal-friendly foie gras.

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Growing up, I was aware of an expensive luxury food called ‘foie gras’, that is produced in a way that is unbelievably cruel to animals. Grainy video footage portrayed dire conditions and disgusting force-fed geese that were too fat to stand. How could people do that to another living being? How could the rich gluttons who buy it live with themselves?

The alien concept of force-feeding seemed grim; forcing a creature to do something it doesn’t want to do, and hurting it in the process. So, why would anyone question the fact that foie gras is an unjustifiable indulgence? I certainly didn’t. Until I moved to France, and began writing about food.

• • •

I had tried foie gras before moving to France, putting my love of food and curiosity above animal welfare, because it was simply a gastronomic rite of passage. But the experience was tainted with guilt.

South West France (and other areas, like Alsace) is very proud of its foie gras-producing heritage. Residents vaguely know about attitudes in the UK and elsewhere, but they don’t really take them too seriously. Every type of person, from farm labourers to local dignitaries, enjoy foie gras as a special treat; the winter is one long series of foie gras markets and festivals; there is foie gras on every restaurant menu, and there are frequent roadside signs, directing drivers to farm shops selling their own foie gras.

Seeing the free-range ducks and geese on foie gras farms, I began to wonder exactly what went on that was so horrific. What I was seeing along with local opinions on foie gras didn’t tally with what I had been led to believe. I realised that I didn’t know exactly how foie gras is produced, so had no basis for my increasingly confused perception of it. So, I decided to do some research...

Salted foie gras, melting onto toast