{"id":8999,"date":"2015-06-30T14:30:46","date_gmt":"2015-06-30T18:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thatdope.com\/food-drinks\/sao-paulo-bans-foie-gras-in-restaurants\/"},"modified":"2015-06-30T14:30:46","modified_gmt":"2015-06-30T18:30:46","slug":"sao-paulo-bans-foie-gras-in-restaurants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thatdope.com\/food-drinks\/sao-paulo-bans-foie-gras-in-restaurants\/","title":{"rendered":"Sao Paulo Bans Foie Gras in Restaurants"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n
Sao Paulo has become the latest destination to deem foie gras unethical, last week passing a new law banning its sale and production \u2014 and renewing worldwide debate on the controversial duck and goose liver.<\/p>\n
While Britain, Germany, Italy and Argentina have banned the production of the French delicacy, city officials in Sao Paulo have gone a step further, forbidding its sale and, effectively, its consumption.<\/p>\n
And in keeping with history, the move is being declared both a victory for animal-rights activists, and a violation of democratic rights by chefs.<\/p>\n
Renowned Sao Paulo chef Alex Atala of D.O.M. was outspoken about the initiative, calling the move absurd.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cHow can a city regulate what a person eats? Where will it all end?\u201d he said in an interview with news site UOL.\u00a0\u201cGastronomy is good for tourism and instead of restricting it, they should promote it.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a similar sentiment echoed when California lawmakers implemented a statewide ban on the delicacy in 2012, only to see it overturned earlier this year.<\/p>\n
When the law came into force, high-profile chefs like Thomas Keller, Tyler Florence and Ludo Lefebvre decried the move as misguided and pointed that a ban would create an illegal black market for the delicacy.<\/p>\n
Instead they proposed enforcing new legislation for the humane treatment of foie gras production.\u00a0The law was overturned earlier in January.<\/p>\n
Foie gras is produced by force-feeding duck and geese to fatten up their livers.\u00a0Restaurants have 45 days to take the luxury item off their menus.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n