A kinder foie gras

last updated 8 January 2015

Madrid

Spanish farmers have come up with a way to make foie gras without force-feeding geese. The delicacy, popular in France, is usually made from the livers of geese that have been overfed through tubes down their throats, a process that swells their livers to many times the normal size. But a Spanish company has begun making foie gras from geese slaughtered just before migrating season, when the birds have been stuffing themselves on their own to prepare for long flights. “They feed and live freely on our land,” said Eduardo Sousa, who runs Pateria de Sousa. “We know when the geese are ready because their bellies drag on the ground.” Sousa’s foie gras passed muster even with the French, winning an award at last year’s Paris International Food Salon. The drawback: It’s available only a few weeks each year.