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Vive La Resistance
My anti-authoritarian, free-wheeling, libertarian colleagues and I easily found a dealer in downtown Chicago willing to sell us an illegal substance. Don't tell the man but if you are in Chicago and want the good stuff ask for Kevin.
Posted by Alex Tabarrok on January 8, 2007 at 07:02 AM in Food and Drink | Permalink
Comments
If I were an upscale restauranteur in Chicago, I'd just raise the price of foie gras on the menu to $600/serving, to cover the cost of fines.
People would come to the restaurant just to see for themselves, even if the vast majority don't actually order the foie gras. The notoriety would be all the advertising I'd need.
Posted by: Russ R at Jan 8, 2007 9:31:19 AM
If I were a restauranteur in Chicago, (not gonna happen; I wouldn't move back to Chicago even if it were legal for us to live there) I'd offer a goose liver paté made from non-noodled geese. Let the wink-wink nudge-nudge crowd think they were getting the real thing, and, again, generate some notoriety.
Posted by: triticale at Jan 8, 2007 9:39:59 AM
How ought an anti-authoritarian, libertarian type to think of animal cruelty laws? If animals are just another kind of property, then there's nothing to be upset about. But if a nightwatchman state can ban murder, slavery, or the trade in (involuntarily obtained) human-skin lampshades -- in other words, if it can act as if people are legitimate objects of legal concern -- then why shouldn't it do similar things for animals?
Or, put more generally, do animals have any natural rights that a human being need respect?
Posted by: anon at Jan 8, 2007 10:44:46 AM
As the dish is French, it would not be out of place to adopt the French way of dealing with one of their forbidden foods, the ortolan.
Let the diner and his meal be covered with a light towel, concealing both the meal, and the diner's pleasure at eating it, from his fellow-diners, the relevant authorities, and perhaps even God.
Posted by: Cyrus at Jan 8, 2007 11:05:01 AM
I consider myself to be very libertarian.
However, the creation of foie gras is a disgusting process.
Top rationalize that it is ok to torture an animal for your palate by using libertarian concepts is a disgrace to libertarian values.
Posted by: RG at Jan 8, 2007 12:16:29 PM
I consider myself to be very libertarian.
However, the creation of foie gras is a disgusting process.
Top rationalize that it is ok to torture an animal for your palate by using libertarian concepts is a disgrace to libertarian values.
Posted by: RG at Jan 8, 2007 12:16:38 PM
I wonder if foie gras sales in Chicago+burbs have gone up or down since the ban. If I lived in the area and could actually afford it, I'd order foie gras much more often just to piss of the animal rights nazis. I'd also buy a leather jacket (I don't own one) and try to bring a date who wears fur too to further rub it in. Definitely wouldn't be ordering the vegetarian special ever.
I'd also increase my chances of dying prematurely from a heart attack, so perhaps that would be karma coming back to bite me in the ass.
Posted by: happyjuggler0 at Jan 8, 2007 1:03:20 PM
Very cool. I know a great OREO man in NYC if anybody is interested.
Posted by: josh at Jan 8, 2007 2:19:57 PM
As a Chicagoan, I can assure you that foie gras is actually easier to find than ever. It used to appear in the rotation of a dozen or so fine restaurants and more rarely at a hundred more; now it has become a fixture on Chicago menus. Strictly speaking, it's only illegal to sell the stuff, not to serve it, so several places sell the garnish (brioche, potatoes, etc) and provide the foie gratis. The rest just thumb their noses at the city council.
Posted by: Elena at Jan 8, 2007 4:09:27 PM
However, the creation of foie gras is a disgusting process.
I think it's pretty safe to say that nearly every food you've ever eaten was created via some more-or-less disgusting process. Certainly every animal-based food was, and most vegetable-based ones as well. Why this should be a governmental problem is beyond me.
Posted by: Dave at Jan 8, 2007 5:51:08 PM
Ok, so the city government is being inconsistent in banning some animal products and not others. But if making foie gras is particularly horrible for the animals involved, why shouldn't this be a governmental problem? Are there *any* types of animal torture that a rights-respecting state may prohibit?
Posted by: anon at Jan 8, 2007 7:01:02 PM
I don't have problems with foie gras.
My problem is with the libertarian "neener neener" sniggering at government because black markets exist.
It's really as stupid as sniggering at the notion of property because lots of theft occurs.
And these folks think this sniggering makes them the cool kids.
Posted by: Mike Huben at Jan 8, 2007 7:22:49 PM
"It's really as stupid as sniggering at the notion of property because lots of theft occurs."
It's only the same thing if the person doing the sniggering in your example thinks theft is great! The way things should be. Which makes your analogy... utterly pointless.
Posted by: BillWallace at Jan 8, 2007 11:55:59 PM
RG,
"I consider myself to be very libertarian."
Maybe you should reconsider.
Posted by: Will Chamberlain at Jan 9, 2007 12:46:52 AM
However, the creation of foie gras is a disgusting process.
And then Dave says:
"I think it's pretty safe to say that nearly every food you've ever eaten was created via some more-or-less disgusting process. Certainly every animal-based food was, and most vegetable-based ones as well. Why this should be a governmental problem is beyond me."
Dave is a total idiot because he thinks that force feeding a live animal is comparable to picking apples from a tree.
Is it your position Dave that no government anywhere should ever set standards for the humane treatment of animals no matter how awful the practice involved? Should bear bile farms be banned in the US? There is a market for them you know.
Posted by: aaron_m at Jan 9, 2007 11:59:18 AM
"My anti-authoritarian, free-wheeling, libertarian colleagues and I"
For god sake, you are a government employee with life time job security,
tremendous fringe benefits,
milking taxpayers for all they worth.
How very libertarian of you.
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