I'm not sure that foie gras is one of man's prouder acheivements.

I'm a lot prouder of man for bringing foie gras into existence than I am of man for getting hundreds of millions of people to eat intensively farmed chickens and pigs that live in despicable conditions - and those same people usually feel they've the right to turn their nose up at foie gras, where the goose is kept in brilliant conditions. Better to die to produce the wonder that is foie gras than to die and become tasteless, mealy frozen nuggets o' mystery meat.

Do I detect a case of the " Marie Antoinette Syndrome" here?

The undoubted barbarism of both is acknowledged, but surely there is more justification for the chicken/pork thing than the 'wonder' that is foie gras...

If that is the best "quote of the day", then available material for reading must have sucked !!

Fer mercies sakes: you do know how this supposed marvellous product is produced? Having watched proud Frenchmen and women at the gavage of geese (and ducks), I'm surprised that you countenance encouraging others to eat the result.

At least Xmas trees have a reasonable life before they're chopped. This is not so for the foie gras machines.

BTW, is not the USA on the edge of a major health crisis because of human 'gavage'?

Bonne fin de l'année
JW

If it is all that great, why isn't it produced in vast quantities? Why aren't McDismals outlets selling it to the eager masses? What would Occam (the famous barber) have to say on this?

What would Occam (the famous barber) have to say on this?

Occam might have said that a Rolls Royce is better than a Ford yet Rolls Royces are not mass produced either, ergo it follows that the quantity in which something is produced is often not an indication of quality. Since when are the the tastes of the 'eager masses' a useful indication of what is best?

I am with Charles Gerard on this: Fois Gras... the food of the Gods.

I don't think there is a parallel between the engineering of automobiles and cramming things into a goose. Mass producing Rolls Royces would not bring the price down enough to make the average slob able to afford one as the production process would be too expensive.
It would be far cheaper to scale up the process of cramming things into geese (bigger shed, more geese, pneumatic cramming robot arm etc) if there was a call for bigger quantities of Fois Gras.
As to the indications of what tastes best, if Fois Gras would not appeal to most people (and so spawn an industry supplying that need) then it can be safely put in the same 'odd food' compartment as 'Kippers Vindaloo' and 'Deep Fried Toblerone' .

if Fois Gras would not appeal to most people (and so spawn an industry supplying that need) then it can be safely put in the same 'odd food' compartment as 'Kippers Vindaloo' and 'Deep Fried Toblerone'

Interesting. I assume you mean mass appeal in America... Chicken feet are widely eaten by millions of Chinese daily and yet would no doubt be classified as 'odd food' because they do not fit what suburban America thinks of as 'normal food'.

But more significently, who cares? I would be surprised if even 0.5% of Americans have ever tried it. If most Americans cannot 'get' what most French people (and rather a lot of people from other countries) 'get' about Fois Gras, what does that prove? Not a lot I suspect.

Not particularly mass appeal in america, my (badly expressed) point being that there may be nothing to 'get', and certainly nothing to get all worked up and poetic about. It may be just another niche food that some people like. Jellied eels, for instance may be highly regarded by its adherents (yuck! having jelied eels adhering to one!) but that is no reason to wax all eloquent about their merits.
What am i saying, there is bound to be JelliedEel.com out there.
To sum up. Samizdata quote of the (Christmas Day) "I, and a few others, like a certain type of food."

'My idea of heaven is eating pate de foie gras to the
sound of trumpets' The Revd. Sydney Smith (1771-1845).

I thought the quote was:

'My idea of heaven is eating pate de foie gras to the pound of strumpets' The Revd. Sydney Smith (1771-1845).

Oh dear, wrong again!

"Fois Gras... the food of the Gods."

I'll second that emotion!

(The schadenfreude it's producing lately from the left is a wonderful byproduct of course.)