Should restaurants still serve foie gras?

Yes:	- 59%
No:	- 41%

MOST people would consider the liver to be a throw-away part of an animal, prizing the other cuts more. But in the case of foie gras, everything is centered around cultivating and coddling the fatty liver, while the rest of the duck or goose is considered the throw-away product.

The consumption of foie gras has long been a contentious issue, because it is obtained by force-feeding ducks and geese through tubes inserted into their throats. Animal rights activists say the process is painful and distressing for the birds. Production has already been banned in Britain, and whilst most supermarkets have stopped stocking foie gras, restaurants are still allowed to import it from abroad.

The controversy remains, with animal activists constantly lobbying their MPs and some resorting to violent, anonymous protests, targeting shops and restaurants that stock it. Eating foie gras has become more than an animal cruelty issue. It has gone as far back to the old debate of eating animals in the first place.

The recent vandalism of a Cheshire restaurant proves that the liver issue is not about to go away. 39 Steps Restaurants in Styal saw six windows

smashed and the words ‘foie gras’ scrawled on the walls. The owners have now removed the dish from the menu "to protect customers and staff".

Confidential's very own Gordo has spoken out against the protests. He said: “Anonymous violent protest is hugely cowardly and ineffectual. It's wrong even if the cause was for say, poverty and children's health. You make a stand - you're either going to eat animal produce or you be a vegetarian. But don't force your opinion on someone else. I will not push a vegan down and force feed them rump steak.”

He says that the production of foie gras has become a symbol of the French wife's independence, saying they worked with geese in this way as far as 250 years ago in Gascony, the home of foie gras.

So vegetarians and meat eaters alike, what do you think? Should restaurants still serve foie gras or should it be erased from our gastronomical consciousness once and for all? Vote on the Homepage.