Festive ‘delicacy’ more than we can stomach

ALL this month, in the lead-up to Christmas, people who wouldn’t dream of eating foie gras between January and November find it on a festive menu and, keen to try something ‘posh’, send in their order.

Few will know that by doing so, they are supporting a scandalous food practice.

The methods used to turn duck and goose livers into the delicacy known as pâté de fois gras are anything but delicate. Foie gras is a French term meaning ‘fatty liver’ and it is produced by force-feeding birds abnormally large amounts of high-protein food — usually corn.