In the Los Angeles Times’ “Daily Dish” food blog, restaurant critic S. Irene Virbila reports that she put “The Foie Gras Wars” on her summer reading list with happy results:
I can’t believe I ever put the book down. Admittedly, the topic sounds like hard going, but this is so well-written and so balanced in its treatment that it is, improbably, a real page turner. It has everything: fascinating characters, devious deeds, wit, suspense, science.
That posting prompted the L.A. Times’ “L.A. Unleashed” animal-related blog to note later in the day, “We’re hard pressed to think of a more controversial food than foie gras…” before it sums up the issue and quotes Virbila’s conclusion:
“‘Guaranteed, you’ll think and think hard before you take that next bite of foie.’ (Coming from a food critic, that’s saying quite a lot.)”
Also today on her “Eat All About It” blog, Rebekah Denn posted some thoughts about the book (”I admire how thoroughly Caro embraced ‘the moral whiplash’ of his research, uncovering revealing facts on all sides”), including parts of an interview with me, and previewed my July 14 appearance at Words & Wine in Seattle. Denn previously wrote about the book for The Christian Science Monitor.
Very nice to see that people are still reading this sucker.
Bryan Pease of the Animal Protection and Rescue League had been suing Guillermo Gonzalez of Sonoma Foie Gras for libel over statements Gonzalez made to me in an October 2005 Chicago Tribune article. Pease had shot undercover video at Sonoma Foie Gras showing a rat chewing the bloody rear ends of two ailing ducks, and Gonzalez said he had never seen such a thing.
“I very seriously believe–I am almost convinced–that this was staged,” Gonzalez said.
In the story, Pease shot back: “Guillermo Gonzalez’s accusation about us staging that footage is one of the craziest, stupidest things I’ve ever heard this psychotic animal torturer to ever say.”
Gonzalez countersued Pease.
After years of motions, jury selection finally was about to begin Wednesday in Cook County Circuit Court when, my Chicago Tribune colleague Robert Mitchum reports, the two parties settled, on confidential terms.
Pease told Mitchum he was happy the suit was settled but disappointed that he wouldn’t be presenting his case to a jury, saying, “It would undo some of the harm that is caused when claims like this are made that footage is staged. Having these issues aired in court is one way to bring them to life.”
Gonzalez and his attorneys weren’t available for comment in the story.
Finally, belatedly, I’m getting this sucker up and running. Watch this space.
