Bed-Stuy Restaurant Owners' Feathers Unruffled by Foie Gras Controversy
A local restaurant's menu item causes the ire of animal rights advocates
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The owners of the restaurant Do or Dine have come under fire in recent days over one of their most unlikely menu items: The foie gras doughnut.
In fact, so unnerved is one vegan blogger over the sale of the sweet-and-savory pastry, she started an online petition that already has attracted more than 1,000 signatures.
But the restaurant’s owners say they have no plans to alter or eliminate the appetizer—at least, not anytime soon.
“We’re not married to having the item on the menu, but we’re definitely married to doing what we want to do,” said Luke Jackson, Do or Dine’s co-owner.
“Doing what they want” has been the restaurant’s cause célèbre and a big reason for its surging popularity. With menu items like deviled eggs with octopus filling and salmon-stuffed jalapenos, eating at Do or Dine is not unlike playing food Russian Roulette—your tastebuds have no clue what they’re in for until it's entirely too late.
The restaurant’s known for its meticulous deconstructing and then reconstructing of classical dishes. And the foie gras jelly doughnut is no exception.
“Foi gras is always presented with bread, like brioche and usually some kind of compote or jelly,” said Jackson. “Essentially, with our restaurant’s concept being low-end/high-end—low-end being the doughnut and the high-end, the foi grois—it was kind of a no-brainer from our standpoint.”
However, it’s not the jelly doughnut, per se, that’s ruffling the feathers of the online petitioners, but its foie gras filling, which they say involves the cruel treatment of animals.
The making of the French delicacy foie gras, whose name means "fat liver,” involves force-feeding ducks or geese to induce large amounts of fat deposits in their livers, thereby producing the food’s popular, buttery consistency.
“What you are doing is sick and wrong,” wrote one online protester. “Animals were not put on this planet to be tortured and maimed for your benefit and you should be ashamed.”
"With all the unleathy diets that are already causing so many health problems to Americans, and the obesity factor, which is real, no one needs to be eating foie gras, which is obtained by cruel and unnatural force-feeding of innocent birds," said another commenter. "It's disgusting, and the people who eat this dish can certainly find something else to eat."
Jackson says he respects their opinions, but that Annie Hartnett—the blogger who started the petition—might have too much time on her hands. He added, she is waging the wrong campaign in an economy where businesses are struggling harder than ever just to keep their doors open.
“This petition was started by a young woman in Maine. She has no idea what our business is; she knows nothing about this community nor what we’re trying to do,” said Jackson. “So I think for her to try to disrupt a brand-new business for her own moralistic intentions… I take more exception to that than I do to her stance on foie gras.”
Net Lag Oner
6:54 am on Thursday, July 21, 2011
Live and let live and let us eat doughnuts! OMG, I can't wait to try a foie gras doughnut. I was vegan for 3 years but seriously Vegan folks.. let me have a look at your wallets (highly possibly leather), shoes, bags, car interiors etc. You can't regulate at every turn. I'm not going to eat this every day but I'd love to try it. And hey... the fact that people are talking wil only generate more curiosity.
Ben B
10:03 am on Thursday, July 21, 2011
Congratulations to the protesters for drumming up more customers, including myself, for Do or Dine!
BKcass
1:40 pm on Thursday, July 21, 2011
While I believe that opposition to a local restaurant should come from within the community, and I'm annoyed that someone in Maine started the petition, it doesn't excuse a Bed-Stuy restaurant - or ANY restaurant, for that matter - from carrying foie gras. In addition to the "normal" cruelties like life in a cramped, filthy cage, the birds are force-fed 1/3 their body weight on a daily basis, through metal pipes shoved down their throats. The pipes sometimes puncture through their neck and the swollen livers can push up against other organs. Their new, unnatural body weight can cause their legs to break and many birds can't walk. Why is it okay to treat ducks and geese like this if we wouldn't treat cats and dogs like this? It's disgusting and no restaurant should carry foie gras.
http://www.nofoiegras.org/about.html
Ernest
5:07 pm on Thursday, July 21, 2011
Do or Dine, Congratulations on your new and popular concept for a donut. OMG, this french delicacy foie gras has been a popular dish and ingredient all across the globe for decades. Never has anyone that I remember ever protested five star restaurants or popular chefs. That's my standpoint!
Olivia Lane
11:05 pm on Thursday, July 21, 2011
I think eating animals that were raised in cruel conditions is mean spirited-- actually, I think it's douchey considering how many other awesome things there are to eat in this city. I'm passing on foie gras and I think that's a position many people are choosing to make now that the extreme degree of cruelty involved in "creating" this delicacy is becoming common knowledge. I know not everyone is going to become vegan, but you have to draw a line somewhere. Force-feeding ducks to the point that they almost drown on their own vomit seems like a good place to break out the pencil.
Do or Dine, great job drumming up publicity. If you come up with something interesting to do with veggies I'd be happy to support you.
Josh
10:16 am on Friday, July 22, 2011
They already do - you should try the grilled shishito with several kinds of dipping salt. It's amazing and no ducks were harmed.
BHL
2:13 pm on Friday, July 22, 2011
hmmmm....why not target the uber expensive so-called French restaurants in Manhattan that has been serving foie gras for the last ______ years??
Gertrude Cole
2:16 pm on Friday, July 22, 2011
When we stat worrying about our community's children as much as we do our geese, that will be a lovely day. But, oh, wait, that might take more effort than whining in a blog. Stop wasting time whining and go tutor a child, a real, human child.
BKcass
2:34 pm on Friday, July 22, 2011
Actually, many high-end restaurants have been targeted for serving foei gras, both here in New York, and elsewhere, including Chicago, where several restaurants discontinued selling it. I think that this instance is just getting more local press because it's a local restaurant.
@Gertrude, why would you assume that pro-animal people don't help "real, human" children simply because they take a few minutes to post on a blog? You're posting on the same blog, so would it be fair for me to tell you to get offline and go do somethig productive with your time? Of course not. Many of us are multi-issue activists and spend our time speaking up for animals, volunteering at libraries, teaching English to immigrants, tutoring kids, and volunteering for other causes. :)
Bennett Ain't Playin'
7:10 pm on Friday, July 22, 2011
Buncha hipsters. Get a real job, why doncha?!
KP
9:33 am on Sunday, July 24, 2011
Foie gras doughnut. Absolutely brilliant idea. This restaurant is going on my list for the next time I'm in town.
pha
4:23 pm on Sunday, July 24, 2011
Foie gras donuts sound great to me. Yummy. Can you order them and have a dozen FedExed over night to your house?