Did California learn anything from Chicago's foie gras ban?

Before Charlie Trotter revealed he had quit serving foie gras and suggested eating the liver of fellow Chicago chef Rick Tramonto, before Ald. Joe Moore proposed that the city ban the sale of the fat livers of force-fed ducks, before the City Council enacted the ban and prompted Mayor Richard M. Daley to declare it "the silliest law that they've ever passed," before two years of foie gras prohibition followed as some Chicago restaurants continued serving the forbidden dish by giving it away or offering it under other names, and before the City Council repealed the ban with almost as little discussion as it had passed it in the first place, there was California.

Mark Caro

June 21, 2012