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Saturday 13 October 2012

Foie Gras, en toute bonne foi


Welcome back to the Chavagnes International College blog. This year we will be bringing you regular updates of the happenings at the college, penned (or rather typed) by the students themselves!
Foie Gras, en toute bonne foi
Foie Gras tends to be a controversial subject, and the taste is not for everyone. Nevertheless senior boys were invited to sate there curiosty at a local farm. Louis DuBrule (S1) reports:

On the 13th of December, the senior boys visited a duck farm which produced foie gras not far from Chavagnes.
At first, the farmer showed us nine thousands ducklings contained in a rather dark, smelly warehouse. The ducklings, which were a mere eight days old, always live close together.

When they are three weeks old, they get free and live outside until they are twelve weeks old. From then on the farmer gets them ready for the forced feeding and feeds them only in the morning (but an enormous amount!) Then, when the ducks become thirteen-fourteen weeks old, they are put in the forced-feeding room. During this period, they are fed a lot to make the liver bigger. And ten days after, they are killed (with the aid of quite a strange machine!)
Then, we had something that everybody was waiting for: the degustation! Mr Guerin, the farmer, had set a huge table for us. We could eat a selection of very nice duck-based foods: duck pate, duck boudin, duck rillettes, magret fume, magret seche, and of course, foie gras! It was very convivial and everyone was very happy. Lastly, the choir members sang Laudate nomen Domini to thank him.
All pupils really enjoyed this visit and will take a way good memories of it. THANK YOU MR GUERIN!