• The New York City Council on Wednesday voted to ban the sale of foie gras over concerns of animal cruelty. The ban is set to take effect in 2022.
  • Its decision sent shock waves through New York’s fine-dining restaurants but was celebrated by animal-rights groups and activists.
  • “This is Idiocracy…f—ing f—,” the celebrity chef David Chang, who founded Momofuku, tweeted shortly after the ban was announced.
  • Foie gras, considered a delicacy of French cuisine, is made from the fattened liver of a duck or goose. It is most commonly made by force-feeding corn to ducks through tubes inserted into their throats.
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Today, foie gras is on the menu of about 1,000 New York City restaurants.

By 2022, it may be on none.

The New York City Council voted Wednesday to ban the sale of foie gras over concerns of animal cruelty, sending shock waves in the Big Apple’s culinary world and fine-dining scene.

“This is Idiocracy…f—ing f—,” the celebrity chef David Chang, who founded Momofuku, tweeted shortly after the ban was announced.

A French delicacy

Foie gras, considered a delicacy of French cuisine, is made from the fattened liver of a duck or goose.

It is most commonly produced by force-feeding corn to ducks through tubes that are inserted into their throats for 20 days, according to The New York Times. Their livers can swell up to 10 times the normal size in the process, which is known as gavage.

The ban, set to take effect in three years, specifically prohibits the sale of foie gras that has been produced by "force-feeding birds." Violators could receive a $2,000 fine.

Foie gras ban

Foto: The Hudson Valley Foie Gras duck farm in Ferndale, New York.sourceBebeto Matthews/Associated Press

"This is one of the most violent practices," New York City Councilwoman Carlina Rivera told The Times. "And it's done for a purely luxury product."

California prohibited the sale and production of foie gras in 2004, allowing the ban to officially take effect in 2012. Despite the ban being overturned in 2015 after a judge ruled that it violated federal law, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the ban in 2017. This past January, it was kept in place after the US Supreme Court refused to hear arguments against the ban.

The production of foie gras is also banned in Australia, Argentina, and the UK. Chicago's City Council attempted to ban foie gras in 2006, only to repeal the law just two years later.

Resistance from restaurateurs

New York City has been one of the largest US markets for foie gras. Now, many New York chefs and farmers are worrying about the repercussions of a ban.

Foie gras ban

Foto: A foie gras dish at the restaurant Sent Sovi in Saratoga, California, in 2012. The production of foie gras is now banned in the state.sourceMarcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press

"New York is the mecca of dining in the world. How is it possible that New York doesn't have foie gras?" Marco Moreira, the executive chef and owner of the French restaurant Tocqueville in Manhattan, told The Times. "What's next? No more veal? No more mushrooms?"

"We will suffer," he added. "It's like taking letters from the alphabet. They will take something out of our kitchen vocabulary that's integral to the restaurant."

On Twitter, Chang called the decision "election fool's gold for the city councilman."

Sergio Saravia, a founder of La Belle Farm in Ferndale, New York, who is the head of the Catskill Foie Gras Collective, told The Times the ban would be "devastating" for business.

"California and New York were our biggest markets," he said. "It's going to make it difficult to stay afloat."

But Rivera defended the bill, noting that the council had given New York farms three years to change their business practices.

"These farms produce dozens of other products and gavage is aggressively cruel," she added. "There is an exotic-animal ban in New York City and people still go to the circus."

Cheers from animal-rights groups

Animal-rights groups and activists quickly began celebrating the ban Wednesday on Twitter, calling it a historic day for animal welfare in New York City.

The New York City Council has also prohibited horse carriages from being put to work on humid days and banned the capture and transfer of wild birds - including pigeons. A mayor's office of animal welfare has also been created.

Mayor Bill de Blasio's office told The Times that he would neither sign nor veto the legislation, allowing it to lapse into law.

Read the full report on The New York Times >