Happy Mardi Gras Against Foie Gras!

I have good news and bad news to share about foie gras, the oversized, cruelly force-fed, commonly outlawed fatty liver of ducks and geese.

The good news is that Israel's High Court affirmed its foie gras ban last week. The ruling should give Israel--formerly the world's third-leading producer of foie gras--motivation to actually enforce the ban. Until now, foie gras force-feeding has continued at two dozen farms across the country, at the expense of some 50,000 geese.

The bad news is that in Pittsburgh, a restaurant chain that previously committed to stop selling foie gras has gone back on its word. The Big Burrito Restaurant Group, which owns Mad Mex, Kaya, and Casbah, pulled foie gras from its menus in 2004 after learning about the horrors of foie gras production. Big Burrito recently started serving the delicacy of despair at its restaurants again. Please send a polite e-mail to Big Burrito reminding the company that torture is not a delicacy and that cruelty to animals is bad business and bad for business.