Anti-foie gras activists vandalize restaurant, homes of chef, partners

Nation's Restaurant News, Sept 1, 2003 by Alan J. Liddle

SONOMA, CALIF. -- Police suspect animal rights activists opposed to foie gras production of vandalizing a combination restaurant-gourmet store under development here by noted San Francisco chef Laurent Manrique, threatening his family and attacking his and his partners homes.

Manrique, executive chef of Aqua Development Corp. of San Francisco, whose noted Aqua restaurants also operate in Las Vegas and Orange County, Calif., is involved on a part-time basis in the vandalized wine country venture, Sonoma Saveurs.

The recent attacks and threats against the chef, his family and business associates--apparently sparked by Manrique's ties to foie gras production and promotion--triggered a multiagency police and FBI investigation. The events also prompted a show of unity by some of Manrique's peers and customers in San Francisco and renewed soul-searching among other operators about their use of foie gras.

Nationally, animal welfare groups, including People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, increasingly are trying to embarrass and boycott independent restaurateurs and chains whose suppliers allegedly are cruel to animals. But some industry professionals who normally support "peaceful, educational protests"--among them chef Daniel Scherotter of Patio d'Asti in San Francisco--reject outright the type of extreme measures used against Sonoma Saveurs and its partners.

"These folks are the spiritual descendants of people who bomb abortion clinics," Scherotter said of those harassing Manrique and the others.

According to Sonoma police chief John Gurney, vandals caused an estimated $50,000 in damage to Sonoma Saveurs and adjoining but unrelated businesses in a historic adobe building late Aug. 12 or early Aug. 13. He said the miscreants spray-painted slogans "suggesting they were concerned about animal treatment" on the walls, fixtures and appliances and blocked drains with concrete before opening water valves to flood the space.

Weeks earlier, an unknown vandal or vandals damaged the homes and other property of Manrique and Sonoma Saveurs partners Didier and Leslie Jaubert, according to reports confirmed by a representative of the trio. Also confirmed by associates of Manrique was that his family was spied upon and secretly videotaped in its Bay Area home and subjected to veiled threats in letters sent by an anonymous source.

Two other partners in Sonoma Saveurs, Junny and Guillermo Gonzalez, are the founders and owners of 17-year-old Sonoma Foie Gras, or SFG. Originally established in Sonoma, but now located in Stockton, Calif., SFG is considered the best-known West Coast producer of foie gras. The traditional French delicacy, whose name translates to "fat liver," generates controversy among some people because it is made by distending the livers of ducks or geese through forced feedings.

Sonoma chief Gurney said the FBI is coordinating the investigation involving his police force and that of nearby Santa Rosa and the sheriffs department of neighboring Marin County. He said animal welfare activists are implicated in the crimes against partners in Sonoma Saveurs.

"We think animal rights activists are involved because there are statements posted on Web sites identifying an animal rights group called ALF," Gurney said.

ALF is an acronym for the Animal Liberation Front. The group portrays itself as a loose-knit, decentralized organization that lends its name, limited financial support and exposure to individuals or groups taking nonviolent action, legal or otherwise, to reduce animal suffering.

Details of the vandalism at Sonoma Saveurs and the Jauberts' residence were posted anonymously in late July and August at ALF's www.arkangelweb.org Internet site and at Bite Back magazine's Web site. The postings indicate that the vandals spray-painted or etched slogans, such as "foie gras is animal torture" and "stop or be stopped."

In a revelation with potentially ominous implications, vandals noted in one of the Internet postings that during their time inside the premises of Sonoma Saveurs they discovered the phone numbers and addresses of other people involved in the project.

Manrique, a native of Gascony, France, where foie gras is produced widely, was traveling and unavailable for comment. The chef has told others that his work in fine-dining restaurants in San Francisco, New York and France in the past has subjected him to nonviolent, nondestructive protests against foie gras production. He also has indicated that the latest protest activity is worrisome because of the destruction, the suggestion his family could be at risk and the Internet publication of the addresses of his house and that of the Jauberts.

News of the Sonoma Saveurs affair sparked some chefs and diners to action.

"We are pro-choice here and anti-Puritan," Palio d'Asti's Scherotter explained. "I respect the right of anyone to not eat foie gras. But for those people who like it, we serve it."

Scherotter, who usually only prepares foie gras for special events or private parties, said he recently had begun offering a daily foie gras special in a show of unity with Manrique.