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Illegal Foods and How to Eat Them
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Sometimes traveling abroad means engaging in certain activities that might be considered illegal back home. Nothing very serious, mind you, like smoking a Cuban cigar for example (if you happen to be American).
The alluring of that which is forbidden seems even stronger when it involves food. This, of course, makes crossing international borders to place contraband in your mouth all the more exciting.
Flirting with the Forbidden, a recent article in Travel and Leisure, discusses the attraction of such culinary adventures. The article kicks off with an illegal dinner in New York in which a dozen ortolan were smuggled into the country and consumed whole. Ortolan are small, endangered songbirds which bring a $10,000 fine if one is caught hunting them in France.
Ortolans are illegal to eat regardless of where they are consumed. Flirting with the Forbidden, however, mostly focuses on food which is prohibited in certain parts of the world but which can be consumed legally in other parts. Foie gras, for example, is becoming increasingly difficult to buy in America as various states have begun prohibiting its production and sale.
Foie gras is just one of many delicacies that foodie Roberto Badin sheds big crocodile tears over. New legislation in the States has recently been preventing a whole host of exotic foods from entering our mouths; beluga caviar, wild mushrooms, live lobsters, Brie de Meaux, jamon iberico, and even unpasteurized milk. Badin even laments over the impossibility of buying a hamburger in the United States cooked rare as many regional health ordinances require the patties to be heated to 160 degrees at the minimum. "Every week, it seems, another menu item--from foie gras to Chilean sea bass, trans fats to organic spinach--is ostracized as unhealthy, environmentally destructive, morally shameful, or downright lethal." Badin comments. And it's true.
So what steps can a foodie take to indulge in such culinary contraband? Smuggling is one option slyly suggested. In fact, Badin goes so far as to actually confess his contraband of choice: mangsteens. I sure hope that's a pseudonym, Mr. Badin! Otherwise customs is going to have some fun with you the next time you return next from Thailand.
America has a lot of silly and also a lot of very legitimate food laws that should be honored or broken depending upon what they are. We here at Gadling certainly don't suggest you go smuggling in your favorite unpasteurized French cheese next time you fly home, but we do suggest that you travel abroad to exercise your food rights and chow down on all those goodies you can't have back home in America.
Just don't sue us if you get sick.
Filed under: Food and Drink
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
Susan Jan 22nd 2007 1:54PM
In my wildest dreams I can't imagine why human beings, who have the highest consciousness of any other species on the planet, would want to eat foods such as foie gras or veal when these foods are produc ed through and solely dependent upon the excruciating torture of animals. Who cares if they taste good? There are a million other tasty foods to eat.
pat Jan 22nd 2007 8:42PM
Honestly I don't see what all the fuss is about. I ask you, who really gives a damn if the cow was: chocked, strangled, shot, bolted, decapitated, or what not? I'll level with you thatif it's endangered and labeled such, you donj't have the "right" to eat it. Animals were put on earth for one purpose, to sustain us. People need to stop preaching and screaming at other people about cruelty to animals, to eat a specific food is another persons choice and not yours. SIlently protest but not eating the "offending" item yourself don't annoy other peopl by being an ass. Personally, i enjoy an exotic foodstuff every now and then, usually at parties, on the weekend, or even after a tough day. I'll smoke a cuban cigar every now and then because I enjoy them. What you consume is your choice, and don't forget it!
Kaley Jan 22nd 2007 2:30PM
i live in the sticks of south carolina, we have cattle, pigs and a lake on the property, we grow what we want to eat, drink milk right from the cow, make our own cheese and pick our own wild mushrooms, and cook our burgers anyway we want. i am not endangering anything, and still about 25 % of what i eat or drink could be called illegal.
Nikki Jan 22nd 2007 2:38PM
I have been in the culinary industry for many years. I have several culinary and nutrition degrees and I have learned so much about the science of food and the laws behind it. I have a love and appreciation of all food my life would be nothing without it but there has to be a level of respect.
Has anyone here ever had to do research on foie gras? I have. They do almost the same thing to veal calves as they do to foie gras geese. Immediately after birth a large plastic tube is shoved down their esophagus never to be removed. After that they are confined in a box, the calves are not allowed to ever see the light of day and neither are allowed to move their entire lives. Food is force fed to the animal nonstop until they are extremely fat and their organs can no longer process the extremely high calorie diet. Their organs become saturated with fat to the highest degree. They become so overweight their legs cannot maintain their own body weight and they are forced to lie in teir own excrement for months to even years. Would you honestly want to eat such a thing? The high price you are paying for is the torture procedure which that animal has lived through its entire life.
As far as shark, beluga caviar, and Chilean sea bass are concerned they are amazing food to work with but they are endangered. If people don't lay off right now they wont be able to eat them ever again. Is it so much to just ask people to allow the population to regrow? Is it too much to just ask for more time? Ever consider that if the population of these animals is alowed to balance itself out again the prices might go down?
As far as fruits and vegetables go, I travel abroad on a regular basis and take my own chances but I am not about to be responsible for bringing dangerous microbes and such into the country that could wipe out crops and devastate the nations food supply.
Its all about respect!! You have to ask yourself what respect do you have for the earth, the ecosystem, the animals we share the earth with, and the other people we share our country and planet with.
Rose Jan 22nd 2007 9:46PM
This is in reference to "Pat" and post number 23. It's cruel people like you that make the world a terrible place to live in. You are the ass my friend! You don't have the right to eat anything you want and people world-wide don't have the right to mistreat animals or make them extinct. The rules apply to you!!!
Sandi B. Jan 22nd 2007 10:46PM
I never heard of foie de gras, so I checked online. How disgusting and cruel. For those who never heard of foie gras, this is what I found: French for "fatty liver," is made from the grotesquely enlarged livers of male ducks and geese. The birds are kept in tiny wire cages or packed into sheds. Pipes are repeatedly shoved down the birds' throats, and up to 4 pounds of grain and fat are pumped into their stomachs two or three times every day. The pipes puncture many birds' throats, sometimes causing the animals to bleed to death. This cruel procedure causes the birds' livers to become diseased and swell to up to 10 times their normal size. Many birds become too sick to stand up. The birds who survive the force-feeding are killed, and their livers are sold for foie gras.
Next time you enjoy this 'delicacy' I hope you think of the suffering the birds endured.