Former 007 takes on foie gras

2009-09-14 12:41

London - British actor and former 007 Roger Moore renewed on Sunday his campaign against foie gras, slamming the process of making the delicacy as "vile" and eating it as "ridiculous".

The ex-British super spy has written to the chairperson of London's upmarket department store Selfridges, offering to buy its entire stock of the product, which is created by force-feeding ducks.

"It's called foie gras which is fatty liver which is a diseased liver," the 81-year-old Moore told Channel 4 news.

"The idea of eating something that is diseased is absolutely ridculous but when you think of the way it's produced then it's vile."

"I would be very happy to buy his (the chairperson's) existing stock of foie gras if he would give me the undertaking that he wouldn't restock.

"There's been no response whatsoever to that. I presume maybe he can't afford the stamps," he added.

Huge public demand

Selfridges said it would investigate any suggestion of illegality in the production of its supplies of foie gras.

But the store told Channel 4 it planned to keep selling the product, citing huge public demand especially in the months leading up to Christmas.

Moore first achieved worldwide fame by starring in British television show The Saint as smooth-talking Simon Templar.

He took over the Bond film duties from Sean Connery in 1973, making his debut in Live and Let Die before completing the sequence with A View to a Kill 12 years later.

In recent years Moore has become well known for his humanitarian work, most notably through his activities as a Unicef Goodwill Ambassador, helping raise funds for under-privileged children.

He has also lent his support to animal activists People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) which campaigns against foie gras, the making of which it says is cruel.

- AFP