Foie gras restaurant slams protesters
The owner of a Bath restaurant has insisted he will carry on serving foie gras - and has criticised protesters who have picketed his premises.
A demonstration outside Minibar in John Street last week turned nasty when campaigners confronted customers.
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Chef and co-owner Alex Grant claimed the protesters swore at his customers, and admitted he pushed one of the campaigners in a row over the picket.
The campaigners from the Bath Activist Network have denied being aggressive, swearing or blocking the door and have said they were simply trying to educate people.
Mr Grant, who has run the restaurant for the past nine months, said: "This is the third time they have come here and they always say they want to protest peacefully.
"They were standing on the door stopping customers coming in and a few people said they had been swearing at them and telling them to go to another restaurant."
When Mr Grant's fiancee went down to reason with the group and ask them to move away from the door, she said she was sworn at.
Mr Grant said: "Because they were giving her mouth, I decided to go down and confront one of the guys and I lost my temper.
"They were being rude to me and my fiancee, so I pushed him to get him out of my face."
However the man he pushed, 22-year-old Dave Clements, said they had been doing nothing wrong.
He said of the swearing claims: "It is absolute rubbish. A customer who identified himself as a friend of the manager became verbally aggressive towards us.
"We were peacefully protesting and if anybody had been behaving any differently, then we would ask them to leave and not come back."
He added that if anyone had been behaving badly, the police - who had been called by Mr Grant - would have intervened and that no arrests were made on the evening, last Friday.
Mr Grant said that by the time the protesters left, he had already lost a lot of business.
He said: "I had a very quiet night, it was very bad for us and we lost a lot of money."
Minibar has no plans to stop serving foie gras, which is made from the livers of ducks or geese which traditionally are force-fed, and Mr Grant defended that decision.
He said: "Foie gras is not as cruel as it used to be, it is not the same as it was 50 years ago.
"The ducks are free range, they have a good life."
More Bath Activist Network protests are planned for this coming weekend.
On Friday, a group will be meeting at the Allen Ford dealership in Lower Bristol Road at 5.30pm to show support for factory workers who have lost their jobs.
They say they will be fighting for justice for employees of Ford components manufacturer Visteon who were made redundant without any back pay, redundancy pay or notice.
A spokesman for Allen Ford said the protesters had got "the wrong end of the stick".
He said: "It is really nothing to do with us. We are nothing to do with production, we are a private company that just sells Ford cars.
"They have got completely the wrong end of the stick. The redundancies were nothing to do with us, those decisions are made on a global scale."
On Saturday activists will be travelling to London for a World Day for Lab Animals protest.
During Sunday afternoon they will be staging an anti-police brutality demonstration at Bath Spa railway station and the police station in response to the death of Ian Tomlinson at the G20 protests in London.
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by Thomas, Bath
Tuesday, April 28 2009, 7:48AM
“I see from the Bath Life magazine that they do a "Foie Gras Creme Brulee". Now there is something that definitely doesn't need to exist!! Have they ever heard of raspberries?”
by anil, sg
Monday, April 27 2009, 2:56PM
“Is the BRT going anywhere near John Street? Was just wondering - it's an easy way to move 140 protestors against bird cruelty to a restaurant that serves this 'delicacy'.....”
by paul, Bath
Friday, April 24 2009, 4:03PM
“Dont worry folks with an impending bird cull likely to come to Bath in the near future we can look forward to the new local delicacy that will be known as:
Pate de mouete de foie gras
Thats pate of seagulls fat liver!
;-)”
by Tom Trosborg, Bath
Friday, April 24 2009, 3:17PM
“Jon, not only will I not froth at the mouth, but unlike you I will not 'educate' you about your choice of food.”
by Jon, Bath, England
Friday, April 24 2009, 12:51PM
“Tom - you don't know me, please stop making assumptions. I'll tell you what, if we should ever meat (sic) in Bath, i'll treat you to a nice free range, local burger - so long as you don't start frothing at the mouth when I choose a soya burger instead.”
by Hugh Dixon, Bath News & Media
Friday, April 24 2009, 9:54AM
“PW's most recent post contained personal information which he has asked to be removed. The content was as follows:
Tom, you are spot on. These activists - whether misguided and well meaning or with sinister agendas - have achieved nothing except to make BAN look petty and ill informed, and to make those who want to make their own legal food choices more determined than ever. I think that's what you call an 'own goal' by BAN. Now, let's not give them any more attention than they deserve, and return to the BRT! ”
by Jon, Bath, England
Friday, April 24 2009, 7:07AM
“To PW - Brilliant - something we agree on! BAN are involved in the BRT campaign aswell, so hopefully see you at an upcoming event.”
by Tom Trosborg, Bath
Thursday, April 23 2009, 3:05PM
“Jon: the one exception I mentioned who I don't think would demonstrate against all meat products is this one, from an earlier contribution of yours: "there was at least one meateater on the demo". So I was factually correct, Jon - and I don't think anybody might have been misled to into thinking I meant that you wouldn't demonstrate against the meat trade.
Do you not think this debate here is "mature" enough for you? Some might consider it ever so slightly more mature than the antics of a small group who have taken it upon themselves to "educate" people about foie gras - as if they didn't know already: in other words, your 'education' could be seen as a transparent cover for a slightly different agenda, couldn't it!
You seem to be doing a not particularly wonderful job with all this 'education' of yours, Jon. A person like Nicola, who was on your side from the outset, hasn't changed her opinion, and I imagine that nothing in the world could ever change it. On the other side of the argument there seems to be people who harden their attitude to being told what they can and cannot eat, according to your group of 'activists' tell them, in that inimitable way of yours..”
by Laurence, Widcombe
Thursday, April 23 2009, 2:35PM
“What is it with these Bath activists imposing their will on others?
Why don't they try something useful like demonstrating outside fish and burger bars?
They could tell the fat people how bad it is to eat such stuff, save the NHS money in not having to treat the obese, save the fish and the meat used in the burgers and make the French happy with increased fish stocks for themselves.”
by Malcolm Cupis, Bridgeyate
Thursday, April 23 2009, 2:22PM
“Jon, my girlfriend studied for 10 years and is one of the most highly qualified people in her field in the world. She loves animals and would never subject any animal to any unnecessary suffering. Why do you think that you know better than she does?”