[Vision2020] West of Paris

[J Ford]

First of all, it is is not ***Moscow*** showing an interest in anything, 
especially when 'tis kirkers doing the selling and kirkers doing the buying.

Second, "we almost sold out our first night."

is translated as "we sold a bit of it to our friends and numerous family 
members and ended up throwing the rest out due to spoilage reasons."

Third, "The people complaining about foie gras have a point.  The way the 
birds are being stuffed is questionable, and I do believe it's important to 
treat animals humanely. I will put foie gras on my menu again when I find a 
producer that doesn't engage in force feeding"

is translated as "They complain, but so what?  Can they prove what they say? 
  I will do what I want - its my restaurant."

Fourth, "This is a group that was looking for something to use against my 
business and they found something," he said. "While I believe there are some 
valid concerns here, I'm not going to stop serving what people want. I will 
put foie gras on my menu again"

is translated as "THEY are all against me.  This is religious persecution 
and I will not cave - well, ok I am for now, but I WILL BE BACK."

Geez, why bother taking it off the menu if all you're doing is waiting for 
the next shipment and hoping people outside yer church donnae find out you 
got it?  How disingenuous can you get?


J  :]





>From: "Saundra Lund" <sslund at adelphia.net>
>To: "'Megan Prusynski'" <megan at meganpru.com>, <vision2020 at moscow.com>
>Subject: Re: [Vision2020] West of Paris
>Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2006 17:55:57 -0700
>
>Hi Megan & Visionaries:
>
>The following article is from today's Daily News and seems to paint a
>slightly different picture.  In particular, I take exception with Mr.
>Foucachon's statement, "He wants local activists, who got their hands on an
>outdated menu earlier this week, to know their threats of protest mean
>nothing to him or his staff."
>
>The "outdated" menu came directly from West of Paris' Web site the very day
>I posted my concerns, not from some nefarious source.  And, we know from 
>Mr.
>Foucachon's comments right here on the Viz that he was aware of the
>inhumanity of the product *before* he included it on West of Paris' menu
>:-(((
>
>Anyway, here's the article:
>
>"Foie gras controversy hits Moscow
>Activists up in arms over delicacy's inclusion on restaurant menu; item has
>since been removed
>
>By Alexis Bacharach Daily News staff writer
>Published: 08-23-2006
>
>Foie gras is no longer available at Moscow's West of Paris, but not for the
>reasons one might think.
>
>Restaurant owner Francis Foucachon sold out of the item his first week in
>business.
>
>He wants local activists, who got their hands on an outdated menu earlier
>this week, to know their threats of protest mean nothing to him or his
>staff.
>
>"Here is the bottom line," he said. "I ordered a small amount just to see 
>if
>there was a demand in Moscow. It was such a huge success, we almost sold 
>out
>our first night."
>
>Foie gras, French for fatty liver, is produced through a process of
>force-feeding ducks and geese until their livers become saturated with fat.
>
>Handlers insert tubes down the birds' throats and funnel pounds of cornmeal
>into their stomachs several times a day.
>
>Megan Prusynski, a local activist with People for the Ethical Treatment of
>Animals and the Humane Society of the United States, said consumption of
>foie gras went down in areas that provided focused education and outreach
>programs.
>
>With that in mind, she's teaming with local and national groups, including
>Compassion Speaks at Washington State University, to organize protests in
>Friendship Square later this month.
>
>"There are still a lot of people out there who don't know what foie gras is
>or how it's made," she said. "When I heard there was a restaurant in Moscow
>serving it, I started talking to people about doing some kind of protest to
>raise people's awareness - maybe get it banned."
>
>More than a dozen countries, including Israel, Germany, the United Kingdom,
>Austria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Italy, Poland and Denmark, have
>outlawed the French delicacy.
>
>In the United States, lawmakers are proposing bans at the state and
>municipal levels.
>
>The California Legislature passed a phased ban last year on the production
>and sale of foie gras. Earlier this month, city leaders in Chicago banned
>the controversial item from all menus in the city.
>
>"The people complaining about foie gras have a point," Foucachon said. "The
>way the birds are being stuffed is questionable, and I do believe it's
>important to treat animals humanely. I will put foie gras on my menu again
>when I find a producer that doesn't engage in force feeding."
>
>PETA spokesman Matt Prescott said that's a victory for animal rights,
>because Foucachon will never find what he's looking for.
>
>"There are producers in the industry who say their foie gras is produced
>humanely, but such claims are unsubstantiated," he said. "Investigations at
>every foie gras farm has uncovered incidents of sick, dead and abused
>animals. We've seen birds with holes in their throats and bloody beaks.
>We've seen farms where dead birds were dangling from wires, dripping blood
>on the live birds."
>
>Video footage and photo galleries on PETA's Web site provide images of 
>birds
>with gaping wounds, images of blood-soaked cages and buckets full of
>feathered corpses.
>
>"No animal should be subject to torture," Foucachon said. "But these things
>they're complaining about, I would suggest American chickens are treated 
>far
>worse than the ducks and the geese. Why aren't people writing letters and
>staging protests at the grocery stores and restaurants that sell chicken?"
>
>Why stop there, he asked?
>
>Foucachon suggested protests against restaurants that cook live lobsters.
>
>"This is a group that was looking for something to use against my business
>and they found something," he said. "While I believe there are some valid
>concerns here, I'm not going to stop serving what people want. I will put
>foie gras on my menu again."
>
>Alexis Bacharach can be reached at (208) 882-5561, ext. 238, or by e-mail 
>at
>abacharach at dnews.com "
>________
>
>A Very Disappointed Saundra Lund
>Moscow, ID
>
>The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do
>nothing.
>- Edmund Burke
>
>***** Original material contained herein is Copyright 2006, Saundra Lund.
>Do not copy, forward, excerpt, or reproduce outside the Vision 2020 forum
>without the express written permission of the author.*****
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]
>On Behalf Of Megan Prusynski
>Sent: Wednesday, August 23, 2006 11:55 AM
>To: vision2020 at moscow.com
>Subject: Re: [Vision2020] West of Paris
>
>I also wanted to give you all an update on West of Paris and the foie gras
>issue. Mr. Foucachon has decided to take foie gras off the menu and I would
>like to congratulate and thank him for making the compassionate choice.
>Hopefully his kind actions can be a way to educate people about just what
>goes into foie gras production and how cruel it is. Thanks very much, Mr.
>Foucachon and West of Paris. :)
>
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