Image by B. Carlson

Local restaurants have come under pressure to remove foie gras from their menus after protestors and campaign groups labelled the selling of the foodstuff as ‘vile’.

Protests over foie gras – liver pâté, specially fattened by force-feeding a duck or goose – began at Horton Grange Country House and Restaurant, near Ponteland, via Twitter.

Alex Lockwood, a member of the Northern Animal Rights Facebook Group, messaged the restaurant: “hello @HortonGrange any chance you can remove the disgusting fois gras (sic) from your menu? illegal to treat geese that way in the UK”.

Horton Grange swiftly replied to Mr. Lockwood and other protestors by insisting that they were “committed to using only sustainable & welfare friendly ingreds & will no longer be using Foie Gras in ANY of its dishes”.

Closer to home, Jesmond Dene House came under scrutiny after Mr. Lockwood contacted Nicky Sherman, the restaurant’s marketing manager, via Twitter: “hi @Nicky_Sherman , @HortonGrange just took fois  gras (sic) off the menu, will Jesmond Dene House? Otherwise I’ll send friends to Horton Grange!”.

Alex Lockwood told JesmondLocal the hotel “took [foie gras] off their menu pretty quick” after his message. However, we could not confirm this with Jesmond Dene House, whose spokesperson declined to comment.

Louis’ Restaurant on Osborne Road has also removed the delicacy from its menu in recent times. A spokesperson said that they stopped selling it over a year ago. However, it “wasn’t anything too ethical”, but was “about the price as well – a bit of both really”.

None of the other local restaurants JesmondLocal spoke to currently sells the upmarket product, although it is unclear whether this is down to ethical considerations or cost.

liver pâté, specially fattened by force-feeding the duck or goose