All foie gras lovers in California can be relieved, since federal judge ruled that California restaurants may again put this controversial delicacy on their menus after a two and a half year ban. Chefs cheered the return of the delicacy. “It feels a little like December of 1933,” said chef Michael Cimarusti on Twitter, comparing the end of the ban to the time when alcohol became legal again in the U.S. after the Prohibition era.
In 2004, then California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law a bill that prohibits the sale of foie gras in the state. The law took effect eight years later in 2012 as producers try to find an alternative method to force-feeding. Identifying a substitute for the existing method of fattening birds though had been elusive.
Animal-rights groups supported this ban assessing the practice of fattening the geese and ducks for foie gras as cruel and inhumane. They urged Attorney General Kamala Harris to appeal the decision, though her office had no immediate comment.
However, foie gras can now be freely served and charged for, as it is no longer considered contraband with a new ruling striking down the ban.
