What is Foie Gras?

Foie gras (translated from French as “fatty liver”) is produced by plunging a feeding tube down the throats of ducks and geese. This force feeding causes the birds’ livers to swell up to 12 times their normal size and leads to enormous animal suffering. To produce foie gras, ducks or geese are force fed to enlarge their livers to up to 12 times their healthy size. For up to a month, three times a day, deliberate and painful overfeeding occurs. This results in immense internal pressure; the birds pant incessantly and have trouble walking. It is at the point when the birds would otherwise die from organ rupture that the foie gras industry finds them to be ideal for slaughter. The process of forced feeding is so traumatic, and the conditions on foie gras farms so debilitating, that the pre-slaughter mortality rate for foie gras production is up to 20 times the average rate on other duck farms. More information about foie gras production can be found here. We are asking local restaurants to keep this cruelty off their menus and we are asking for your help. Please support the Animal Rights Coalition in our effort to rid Minneapolis of this gourmet cruelty.

How to Get Involved

• Don’t buy foie gras and let people know why.
• Educate local restaurants and grocery stores about animal suffering and ask them to take foie gras off their menus and shelves.
• Even if you do not eat foie gras, also be sure not to patronize establishments that serve or sell it:
  • 112 Eatery
  • Bar La Grassa
  • Bellecour
  • Be’wiched
  • Borough
  • Burch Steak & Pizza Bar
  • Butcher & the Boar
  • Cafe and Bar Lurcat
  • Cedar + Stone, Urban Table
  • Clancey’s Meats & Fish
  • Corner Table
  • Cosmos
  • D’Amico Kitchen
  • Forepaugh’s Restaurant
  • Grand Cafe
  • Icehouse
  • Meritage
  • Nighthawks
  • Normandy Kitchen Cafe & Bar
  • Oceanaire
  • Restaurant Max
  • Restaurant Alma
  • Sea Change
  • Spoon and Stable
  • Surdyk’s
  • The Capital Grill
  • The Bachelor Farmer
  • The Harriet Brasserie
  • The Lexington
  • The Living Room W-Minneapolis
  • The Sample Room
  • Town Talk Diner & Gastropub
  • Travail Kitchen and Amusements
• Let market and restaurant managers know that you won’t support businesses that endorse foie gras.
• Spread the word by telling your family, friends, and co-workers about how foie gras is produced. Print copies of The Face of Foie Gras flyer to hand out.

Get your favorite restaurants to pledge to “forego foie gras” and join the growing movement against animal cruelty. If you know a restaurant that would like to pledge to take or keep foie gras off their menu, please contact amyleinen@animalrightscoalition.com.