Filet-O-Foie Gras: Luxe Burgers Come to France
By TIME NewsFeed Dec. 03, 2010
Imagine this on a burger.
This holiday season, hundreds of fast food outlets will Frenchify the traditional beef burger the only way they know how: by smothering it with a slice of fatty duck liver.
The fast food chain Quick will be serving up limited-edition foie gras burgers to customers across France in the days leading up to Christmas in an effort to compete with McDonald's. (Shouldn't be too hard. The most decadent thing on a Micky D's menu is a Double Quarter Pounder with cheese.)
French foodies on a budget will be able to snag beef patties topped with the rich, costly pâté for a bargain 5 euros. Foie gras is made from the liver of a duck or goose that has been fattened, usually through force-feeding. At 672 calories, the new "Supreme Foie Gras" doesn't quite rival KFC's heart attack-inducing Double Down.
Foie gras is traditionally part of Christmas celebrations in France, but in the south of the country, is a delicacy widely eaten throughout the year. And this isn't the first time Quick has gone out of its way to cater to its clientele; it sparked a debate earlier this year by producing a halal–read: turkey instead of beef–version of one of its burgers.
Under fire from animal rights activists, who denounce the practice of producing the buttery spread as cruel, a handful of American states have come out with laws against the force-feeding of birds or the sale of foie gras. Maybe the U.S. will reconsider once it realizes you can get fries with that. -Hillary Brenhouse