Avian flu forces French restaurants to change menu (with less foie gras)

The poultry crisis is forcing luxury restaurants in France to remove foie gras from the menu or serve only small portions. “We have had less foie gras for a month, and not at all this week”, said for example this weekend the owner and chef of the restaurant Le 1862. CNN†

The restaurant in south-west France, which has a Michelin star, no longer receives regular deliveries and therefore turns to local producers. In the meantime, the chef is working on alternative dishes to fill the shortage of goose and duck liver. “2022 will be the year with more vegetable dishes and less meat,” he told CNN.

Ancient dish

Top Franco-Dutch chef Alain Caron also hears from French colleagues that foie gras is barely available. “A famous butcher in Paris told me recently that it’s a tragedy: it’s almost impossible to find. And people who normally order or buy foie gras, do it much less. They are afraid, because of the flu avian.”

That the delicacy is still popular in France, despite the controversial production method, is partly because the dish is centuries old, according to Caron. “Farmers in the southwest of France made foie gras to make a little extra money. They gave their geese extra food. It wasn’t a good way of course, but it wasn’t made mechanically as it is now. The quality of the goose was very good.”