LOS ANGELES: A foie gras frenzy is under way in California as the state prepares to become the first in America to ban the controversial delicacy.
With a deadline of July 1 looming, prices have doubled, restaurant menus are replete with every possible version of the dish, and gastronomes are engaging in one last cholesterol-inducing binge.
California's decision to ban foie gras, which is made from the liver of a specially fattened duck or goose, was taken in 2004 and signed into law by the then governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, but an eight-year period of grace was allowed.
Since then, a debate has raged between gourmets and some chefs on one side, with animal welfare activists on the other. There have been protests, warnings of black-market bootlegging, and even death threats against non-compliant chefs.
Chris Cosentino, who reportedly received threats, accused activists of having an ''agenda for a vegan country''.
With three weeks left to what has been called ''foie-mageddon'', restaurants are churning out dishes.
At Melisse in Santa Monica, which has two Michelin stars, the chef, Josiah Citrin, is offering a $US185 ''Foie for All'' five-course tasting menu including truffled foie gras agnolotti, dover sole with poached foie gras, and foie gras with pudding. ''The great thing about America is we have freedom of choice. I'm personally sad because foie gras is a foundation of haute gastronomy,'' the chef said.
Protesters who picketed the restaurant last month disagreed. Madeline Bernstein, the president of the local Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said: ''People are allowed to eat food, not allowed to torture it first.''
Annual consumption of foie gras in the US has been estimated at about 420 tonnes. California's only producer is Sonoma Artisan Foie Gras, which is going out of business, despite clients placing orders at $US60 a pound (450 grams) in the weeks before the ban starts.
Guillermo Gonzalez, the owner, said: ''Ultimately, chefs' and consumers' freedom of choice is being taken away. Who knows what food product is next?''
Force-feeding birds to enlarge their livers stretches back to Roman times - it was recorded in the 1st century AD by the author and philosopher Pliny the Elder.
Today, the vast majority of foie gras is produced in France using a controversial process known as gavage. Ducks are force fed by having a pipe placed down their throats several times a day for three weeks. Their livers can expand tenfold. Gavage has been banned in about a dozen countries including Britain, although foie gras produced elsewhere can still be imported.
Opponents of the California ban, under which chefs would be fined up to $US1000 for each violation, argue the birds do not have a gag reflex and are used to gorging on fish.
But the Animal Protection and Rescue League, which pushed for the prohibition, says ''after weeks of enduring this force-feeding torture many ducks have difficulty standing, walking and breathing''.
About 100 chefs have formed the Coalition for Humane and Ethical Farming Standards in an attempt to repeal the ban.
Telegraph, London
Source: www.smh.com.au
Two California cities voters embrace pension cuts - Bluefield Daily Telegraph
SAN DIEGO — Voters in two major California cities overwhelmingly approved cuts to retirement benefits for city workers in what supporters said was a mandate that may lead to similar ballot initiatives in other states and cities buried under mounting pension obligations.
Public employee unions that aggressively fought the measures weren’t able to overcome the simple message supporters used to attract voters in San Diego and San Jose: Pensions for city workers are unaffordable and more generous than many private companies offer. The result is reduced public services in the form of such things as limited hours at public libraries and unfilled potholes.
“The public is frustrated,” said San Diego Councilman Carl DeMaio, a Republican who staked his mayoral bid on the pension measure and advanced to a November runoff in Tuesday’s election to lead the nation’s eighth-largest city.
In San Diego, two-thirds of voters favored Proposition B while the landslide was even greater in San Jose, the nation’s 10th-largest city. With all precincts counted, 70 percent were in favor of Measure B.
“The voters get it, they understand what needs to be done,” said San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, a Democrat who has called pension reform his highest priority.
Shrinking tax revenues during the recession are also responsible for service cuts in San Diego and San Jose, but pensions were an easy target. San Diego’s payments to the city’s retirement fund soared from $43 million in 1999 to $231.2 million this year, equal to 20 percent of the city’s general fund budget, which pays for day-to-day operations.
As the pension payments grew, San Diego’s 1.3 million residents saw roads deteriorate and libraries and recreation centers cut hours. For a while, some fire stations had to share engines and trucks. The city has cut its workforce 14 percent to 10,100 employees since Mayor Jerry Sanders took office in 2005.
San Jose’s pension payments jumped from $73 million in 2001 to $245 million this year, equal to 27 percent of its general fund budget. Voters there approved construction bonds at the beginning of the last decade, but four new libraries and a police station have never opened because the city cannot afford to operate them. The city of 960,000 cut its workforce 27 percent to 5,400 over the last 10 years.
Tuesday’s votes set the stage for potentially lengthy legal challenges by public employee unions. The measures are unusual because they address pensions for current employees, not just new hires.
Opponents say the measures deprive workers of benefits they were counting on when they got hired. Some workers decided against potentially more lucrative jobs with private companies, figuring their retirement was relatively safe.
Those arguments failed to resonate with voters.
“A lot of employees are disheartened,” said Yolanda Cruz, president of the San Jose Municipal Employees Federation, who called the outcome disappointing. “We’ve been made the full problem of what’s been going on.”
The ballot measures differ on specifics. San Diego’s imposes a six-year freeze on pay levels used to determine pension benefits unless a two-thirds majority of the City Council votes to override it. It also puts new hires, except for police officers, into 401(k)-style plans.
More than 100,000 residents signed petitions to put the San Diego measure on the ballot.
Under San Jose’s measure, current workers have to pay up to 16 percent of their salaries to keep their retirement plan or accept more modest benefits. New hires would get less generous benefits.
Reed joined an 8-3 City Council majority to put the measure on the ballot. He said after Tuesday’s vote that he expected other cities in financial binds to pursue similar measures.
“It’s novel but it’s certainly not radical,” he said. “Mayors across the country are very interested. We’re at the leading edge but we’re not alone.”
Source: bdtonline.com
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