Chicago overturns foie gras ban

For French chef Didier Durand, foie gras was a dish he cooked with his mother growing up in France.

So he was elated to learn Wednesday that the Chicago City Council voted to overturn a controversial two-year-old ban on serving the delicacy of geese and duck liver and he could again offer it at his restaurant, Cyrano's Bistrot.

"I jump on my seat and going to open the champagne," said Durand, a native of Bergerac in southwestern France. Durand stood outside his restaurant, wearing a button that said "Quack if you like foie gras" and showing off his pet duck, Nicolai, named after French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

He said he would begin serving the dish as soon as the law goes into effect later this month. His restaurant was one of many across the city that hosted foie gras dinners in the days before the ban took effect in August 2006.

But the repeal of the ban didn't go unnoticed by animal rights activists who consider foie gras cruel because the geese and ducks are force-fed to make their livers bigger.

The animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals called the repeal a political maneuver benefiting the restaurant industry. The Norfolk, Va.-based group said the council's first "compassionate decision was reversed in a secretive, rushed bow to special interests that benefit from the cruel treatment of animals."

Wednesday's vote was led by Mayor Richard M. Daley, who called the ban the "silliest" ordinance the City Council has ever passed. The repeal measure passed by a vote of 37-6 with no debate, an about-face from the original ban, which passed in April 2006 by a vote of 48-1.

During Wednesday's vote, the ban's original sponsor, Alderman Joe Moore, shouted his objections.

"It was a statement against animal cruelty pure and simple," Moore said about his original intent, after Wednesday's vote.

Of the council's decision to repeal, he said: "They used a little parliamentary procedure avoiding any public hearing and debate on the measure. I don't think that's very healthy for a democracy or very healthy for the city."

Alderman Thomas Tunney, who brought the issue to vote, said the sentiments of most Chicagoans was served.

"Supporters of this legislation have accomplished their goal by raising awareness of this issue," Tunney said in a statement. "And while I respect their viewpoint, this is clearly a matter the council should stay out of and let the educated consumer and chefs make their own menu choices."

Doug Sohn, owner of Hot Doug's on the city's North Side, was fined $250 in March 2007 for a first-time offense of serving foie gras. While taking and serving orders at the self-titled "sausage superstore and encased meat emporium," Sohn said the repeal was the right decision.

"I certainly think it was a foolish decision in the first place," Sohn said. "I truly hope this ends it. There are real important issues in this city. This is certainly not one of them. I hope we're done with this nonsense."

The Illinois Restaurant Association along with a local restaurant had filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking an overturn of the ban, but a U.S. District Court judge dismissed the effort last June.

The association said in a statement Wednesday that, "As an industry, we think that menu offerings are best left to the individual restaurant operators, rather than being dictated by government."

More than a dozen countries, mostly in Europe, have banned production of the delicacy. Similar measures have been considered in California, Maryland and Pennsylvania.