French delicacy Hungary's golden goose
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See the article in its original context from April 1997.
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"It's hard work and I'm very tired," the 42-year-old Seres said hoarsely over the din of 200 honking geese as he pushed corn through a plastic tube down their throats to fatten their livers for pate de foie gras.
In the process the French call "gavage", or forced feeding, each goose must consume a kilo (2.2 pounds) of corn a day in the final stages of a three-week period to produce foie gras - literally, fat liver.
To animal rights activists, the forced feeding of geese is as odious as clubbing seals or raising minks for their pelts.
"This is a form of torture, however they do it," said Agnes Szechy, a prominent Hungarian animal rights activist.
But for gourmets, foie gras ranks as a delicacy alongside caviar, champagne, oysters and truffles — and for Hungary it is a gold mine.
"If you feed them gradually and gently, it doesn't harm them," said Seres, who gets 2,300 forints ($14) per bird, or 2,700 for three weeks' work. "But if you give them too much their stomachs may burst," he added.
France is the home of foie gras and its chefs whip up amazing concoctions, such as goose foie gras in brioche dough or steamed duck stuffed with foie gras and truffles. World's leading producer
But Hungary, not France, is the world's leading producer of fattened goose liver, turning out 1,300 tons every year worth some 30 million, Hungarian producers say. About 70 percent is exported to France where it is processed, mixed with black truffles or other delicacies, packaged and labelled "made in France".
"France is a gourmet country which loves the kitchen and they worked into the culinary culture the eating of goose liver," said Peter Zoltan, deputy chairman of state-owned Babolna Kft, one of Hungary's biggest exporters. "But pate is a Hungarian product. It's a French pate but it's Hungarian liver."
Now Hungary, sloughing off a half century of communist rule and the lack of marketing savvy that went with it, wants a bigger piece of the gourmet pie by processing the liver itself.
"In the past we did not have a processing culture, a marketing culture, a public relations culture, a design culture...in the socialist system," Zoltan said. "Now that has changed," he said, showing off a container of Hungarian-processed, creamy-pale foie gras in a "deluxe" black ceramic jar with gold lettering.
Challenging the French Zoltan said Hungarian producers at a meeting half a year ago discussed ways to bolster domestic processing, hoping to make Hungary synonymous with foie gras, like France.
"But to challenge the French is not easy," he said.
"We have to be cautious, otherwise we destroy our market without gaining any advantage...For sure in the medium or long-term we have to achieve that goal of producing the final product in Hungary - but we will do it diplomatically, without provoking the French."
Hungary has had experience with almost killing the golden goose. In 1994, five years after the collapse of communism, newly privatised Hungarian poultry companies boosted production dramatically, to more than 1,700 tons of fresh goose liver.
The result was that prices plummeted on world markets, to some 80 French francs ($14) per kilo from 155 francs. There was such a glut that irate French farmers blockaded Hungarian trucks and dumped liver on the roads much to the chagrin of gourmets. Hungarian liver producers, reeling from the experience, agreed to voluntary quotas overseen by the Hungarian Poultry Product Council, which keeps production at roughly 1,300 tons.
"The liver market is not a big market, it is a special market, mainly France, Belgium and Japan," said Peter Foldi, the council's managing secretary. He said the voluntary quota system, after trial and error, was working well.
"We had difficulties to find the right amount and to divide the quantity among the companies," he said. "But finally we took the average of production and apportioned it out.
"We allowed a certain amount for newcomers because there are a lot of changes happening in the Hungarian industry and new organisations are coming into the business."
Changes with potential EU membership The industry faces other changes as Hungary moves towards membership of the European Union, expected early next century.
"Joining the EU could hit Hungarian goose and duck breeding," said the Hungarian daily Nepszabadsag, referring to planned EU legislation to limit methods of feeding which cause pain or physiological changes. The forced feeding of geese causes what Zoltan said is a "fatty degeneration of the liver".
"Of course in general there is a negative feeling against forced feeding," he said. "I guess there will be regulations to limit industrial production but at the same time...we cannot live in fairytales where people say I love the goose liver but I don't like the way it's produced."
Animal rights activist Szechy said she did not expect to end forced feeding, which has been a tradition since the Middle Ages in Hungary, where the terrain and climate are ideal for raising waterfowl. But she hopes some of the worst abuses will be curbed by the EU or a bill before the Hungarian parliament.
