Wolfgang Puck vs. Foie Gras

Last month, celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck penned a letter to fellow restaurateurs and food-industry associates urging them to consider and support California’s recent ban on foie gras. Puck, who owns more than 70 casual and fine-dining restaurants nationwide, states in the letter that he stopped serving the cruel delicacy in 2007 as part of a larger animal-welfare effort at his company, and argues that the embargo is a “common sense law,” as “force-feeding ducks and geese for foie gras is extremely detrimental to animal welfare.” Puck also makes note of California’s 2008 passage of Proposition 2, which eliminated the use of hen battery cages, veal crates, and sow gestation crates in the state’s agricultural facilities, noting, “Here in California, our own customers understand the need for all animals, including those raised for food, to be treated humanely.”