News

As pressure mounts on Vancouver restaurants to remove foie gras from their menus, one high-profile eatery told The Globe and Mail yesterday it has decided to stop serving the controversial delicacy. West restaurant, widely regarded as one of the top dining rooms in the city, reworked its spring menu this week and removed it.

For the past five Fridays, animal rights group Liberation B.C. has protested outside Kitsilano eateries Gastropod and Fuel. The group plans to escalate its protest and take it to other businesses that sell the artificially fattened duck or goose liver.

Until this week, West's menu included a terrine of foie gras - a dish created by new executive chef Warren Geraghty. In March, Mr. Geraghty told The Globe and Mail that his signature dish in his previous Michelin-starred London restaurant L'Escargot was a foie gras preparation. At that point, he was waiting to gauge the political temperature surrounding the product in Vancouver.

Jack Evrensel, proprietor of the Top Table Restaurant Group, which includes West, issued the following statement: "Our decision to remove foie gras from West's menu was not based on whether we support the boycott or not. We simply do not wish our guests to be inconvenienced or harassed. In each of our restaurants, we strive to work with ethical, humane, organic and sustainable suppliers for every animal, for the benefit of our guests as well as our peace of mind."