(CN) China develops a taste for foie gras

[Guest guest]

Monday, April 10, 2006

South China Morning Post

http://www.scmp.com/topnews/ZZZJ30K1DLE.html

 

Mainland now a leading producer of French delicacy

 

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Paris

 

Wok-fried foie gras? Mainlanders are discovering the rich, buttery

taste of the delicacy on French holidays and are asking for it back

home, spurring a growing industry.

 

" The Chinese, who are seeing an improvement in their standard of

living and are increasingly travelling to France, where they have

discovered foie gras, are looking for such products when they get

home, " said Dai Ying, China's delegate to the UN organisation for

industrial development.

 

That demand is putting the nation on the path to becoming one of the

biggest producers of foie gras, made from goose liver.

 

Qi Mingce, managing director of Jifa group that has just signed a

deal with one of France's top foie gras makers, started his career as

a chef and is making his 15th trip to France to learn about the

secrets of successful foie gras.

 

He said Jifa had no intention of exporting its foie gras to France as

many " hotels, restaurants, supermarkets, and airport shops " in China

were interested in buying it.

 

He has four shops in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong and Changchun ,

selling foie gras products, but hopes to boost the number to 200.

Jifa signed a deal last week with French foie gras firm Delpeyrat.

 

" For the past two years we have produced about 100 tonnes of foie

gras in our Changchun factory - that's about two-thirds of Chinese

production, force-feeding some 200,000 geese, " said Mr Qi.

 

" But our aim is to reach 1,000 tonnes over the next five years with 2

million geese. "

 

Delpeyrat, which has about 4.5 million ducks, is the standard bearer

of France's second-biggest foie gras producer MVVH, formed by a

merger of three groups of co-operatives based around southern France.

 

Foie gras has been designated by law as part of French cultural and

gastronomic heritage, and is made by force-feeding corn to caged

ducks and geese over a few months so that their livers swell with

fat.