Sustainable agriculture and foie gras

At the Taste3 2008 conference, hosted by TED talks, the chef Dan Barber tells a wonderful story about sustainable agriculture and foie gras. It is a story of a Spanish farmer and producer of foie gras, who is in love with his geese and does not force feed them but instead allows them to gorge in the fall on the fruit of his olive and fig groves, in order to produce what Dan Barber says is the best foie gras in the world1.

From Dan's closing remarks:

We need now to adopt a new conception of agriculture. One in which we stop treating the planet as if it were some kind of a business in liquidation. And stop degrading resources under the guise of cheap food. We can start by looking to farmers like Eduardo, farmers that rely on nature for solutions, for answers; rather than imposing solutions on nature [they are] "listening to nature's operating instructions". The great thing for people that care about food and cooking is that the most ecological choice for food is also the most ethical choice for food. And it's also, almost always, and I haven't found an example otherwise, the most delicious choice. That's serendipitous.

  1. In 2007 Eduardo Sousa was awarded the Coup de Coeur for the best foie gras by the Paris International Food Salon.