PLEASE HELP! I have to eat Foie Gras at a dinner feast!

I don't know whats more gross, Foie Gras, or anything kosher.

Have at it, you'll never know the difference.

Tastes like liverwurst to me

foie gras isnt too unpleasant to taste, but when you consider how it is made, it kind of changes your thinking. I was in france and was served foie gras the traditional way by relatives. it will be very tiny portion, you will spread it on your slice of baguette, and be sure to down it with a good glass of wine. you're just eating a chunk of animal fat, its better tasting than liver, think along the lines of leberwurst, teewurst? it would be the same as eating a chunk of butter (but with ethical ramifications).

you should be fine again tomorrow. not an ideal pre race food perhaps, but it shouldn't impact your training too much.

as per kosherness, I would not know...

If its buttery or made of butter, its not treyf.

FROM HASHKFAH.Com

'Force feeding geese for foie gras is kosher'

By MATI WAGNER

Disagreeing with a High Court ruling and the adopted practice of a growing number of European countries, Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv ruled there is no halachic restriction against force-feeding geese for foie gras.

Elyashiv, probably the most preeminent halachic authority living, was asked by a haredi foie gras producer to give his opinion after MK Moshe Gafni (Degel Hatorah) voted against Israeli foie gras production in the Knesset Education Committee, arguing that it contradicted the Jewish law prohibiting cruelty to animals.

Ze'ev Friedman, a resident of Bnei Brak, who has a 30 percent share in Foie Gras, a meat production plant in Petah Tikva that markets goose liver, initiated a meeting of a group of rabbis including Elyashiv, Rabbi Avraham Yosef, the chief rabbi of Holon, and Rabbi David Yehiel Verner, the chief rabbi of Hadera.

The rabbis described in detail the entire process of foie gras production to the nonagenarian rabbi. Asked if foie gras production was a violation of halacha, Elyashiv replied unequivocally that it was not.

Halacha permits causing animals to suffer if, as a result, there is some tangible benefit to man. That is why animals may be slaughtered, used for plowing or for carrying heavy loads.

However, writes Rabbi Moshe Feinstein (Igrot Moshe, Even Ha'ezer IV 92), not all benefits enjoyed by man justify causing suffering to animals. Based on this distinction, Feinstein prohibits raising calves for veal. Producing white meat is nothing more than a marketing ploy, writes Feinstein, and does not justify depriving calves of iron in their diet or limiting their mobility.

In contrast, Elyashiv ruled that the enlarged liver resulting from forced-feeding practices is a tangible benefit to man and justifies animal suffering.

As further evidence that there is no halachic restriction against foie gras, Friedman, a sixth-generation foie gras producer, cited stories that Rabbi Moshe Sofer, known as the Hatam Sofer, who lived at the turn of the 19th century, ate foie gras on a regular basis.

"It could be that my forefathers in Hungary actually sold the Hatam Sofer goose liver," said Friedman.

Foie gras producers force-feed newborn geese with high-caloric food by inserting a tube into the esophagus, resulting in the swelling of the liver. The process lasts about three months, after which the geese, who have a life expectancy of about 60 years in their natural habitat, are slaughtered.

Animal rights groups say force-feeding damages the digestive system and the esophagus and causes suffering.

In August 2003, the High Court agreed with a petition by Noah, an umbrella organization for animal rights organizations in Israel, that force-feeding geese for the production of foie gras causes unnecessary suffering.

The court ruled that foie gras production violates the Protection of Animals Law, 1994, which prohibits torture, cruelty or abuse to animals. It based its decision on a distinction between food items necessary for human existence and luxuries. Less weight is given to agriculture industry needs and more emphasis is put on animals' rights when a food product is a luxury item.

Chai Binyamini, secretary-general of the association of goose growers in Israel, said the Agriculture Ministry had invested NIS 200,000 to investigate more humane methods of producing foie gras.

Binyamini said 62 geese growers employing 600 workers produce 500 tons of foie gras a year. Industry revenues, including both liver and goose meat, are NIS 100m., of which NIS 60m. are for export.

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"Vayigash Eliyahu El Kol Ha'am Vayomer Ad Mosai Atem Poschim Al Shetai Ha Seipim, Im Hashem Hu Haelokim Lechu Acharav, Veim Ha Baal Lechu Aharav, Velo Anu HaAm Oso Davar." (Melachim I, 18:21)

Think liverwurst and enjoy a bissle!!

You always have a choice with what you eat. Foie gras is a DISEASED LIVER.

Here is some information on where foie gras comes from.

Foie gras is a controversial food, due to the way the ducks and geese are raised. It is now banned in the entire state of Chicago.

http://www.petatv.com/tvpopup/Prefs.asp?video=foie_gras_long

http://www.goveg.com/feat/foie/

http://goveg.com/chicago_foiegras.asp

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/04/27/national/main1550028.shtml

www.vgt.ch/vn/

0103/foie-gras.JPG

www.stopforcefeeding.com/

images/upload/liver.jpg

I hope some of this helps, and you get a better idea of what you might be eating, but I hope you decide not to eat it.

Wait a second, it's been banned in the entire state of Chicago!?

Chicago is a state of mind, really.

Yes, click on links for info.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/04/27/national/main1550028.shtml

http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/04/27/us/27foiegras.html