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April 1st, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda
By
George Arbuthnott
18:24 EST, 31 March 2012
|
18:24 EST, 31 March 2012
Customer: Nigella Lawson purchased the meat from sacked Selfridges butcher Jack O’Shea in ‘good faith’
When a butcher at Selfridges celebrated food hall was sacked for surreptitiously selling foie gras under the counter, it sparked a guessing game as to which well-connected customers were buying it.
Now The Mail on Sunday can disclose that Jack O’Shea’s customers for the controversial delicacy included domestic goddess Nigella Lawson.
And another source has identified Sir Michael Caine – a celebrated bon viveur who co-founded the Mayfair restaurant Langan’s Brasserie – as another of Mr O’Shea’s foie gras buyers.
Ms Lawson, 52, is well-known for recipes laden with animal fats and dairy produce, and she has spoken of her love of foie gras, a rich pâté made from the enlarged livers of fattened geese.
But animal welfare campaigners say foie gras is cruel and, although it is legal in the UK, many stores – including Selfridges – refuse to sell it.
Ms Lawson is said to have made her purchases from the Irish butcher ‘in good faith’, believing that what she was being sold was above-board. But there are said to have been many other customers who asked Mr O’Shea, with a nod and a wink, for foie gras using the codewords ‘French fillet’.
Ms Lawson has previously told how she serves up foie gras to her husband, art collector Charles Saatchi, even though he hasn’t the palate for it.
She said: ‘When I toast him bagels and slather on the foie gras, it makes for a good dish. Does he eat it? No! He turns his nose up, makes his own bagels and whips out the Dairylea.’
Mr O’Shea, 39, provided prime meat to some of London’s most celebrated restaurants, but has declined to confirm the identities of any of his clients.
He says he sold the delicacy in defiance of Selfridges’ strict ethical rules ‘for the craic’, adding: ‘I knew I was doing the wrong thing. I am a naughty little schoolboy for selling it.’
Mr O’Shea said he was aware of the ban, introduced in 2009, as ‘one of the suits’ told him – but insisted he was only responding to demand. ‘We had so many great customers,’ he said. ‘It’s a secret society thing. I didn’t do it for the business. It was to keep customers happy.’ He added that his customers loved the ‘wink-wink’ pantomime of the subterfuge.
‘Someone would come up to the counter and say, “Excuse me, do you have foie gras?” “Absolutely not, missus.” Then one of the boys would grab her – it was all part of the show – and he would say, “Ask Jack for some French fillet.” She would come back and do that, and it was, “Of course, madam. I’ll be right with you.” The customer felt part of a little club.’
‘I am a naughty little schoolboy’: Mr O’Shea was marched from his meat counter after photos him selling the delicacy appeared in the press
Photographs showing Mr O’Shea selling foie gras for nearly £40 for a 1.7 lb portion appeared in newspapers shortly before Christmas following a tip-off.
He was marched away from his counter in front of customers on Christmas Eve, then summoned to a meeting with store bosses.
Production of foie gras is banned in the UK because of concerns the birds are force-fed. But it is available to buy in stores including Harrods and Fortnum Mason.
Selfridges announced it was ending Mr O’Shea’s contract in February. It also claimed there had been additional concerns about hygiene at his counter.
Controversial: Production of foie gras is banned in the UK because of concerns the birds are force-fed but it is available to buy from high-end butchers
But Mr O’Shea has denied the allegations. ‘Out of 200,000 customers in three years there hasn’t been a single complaint or case of food poisoning. Nothing was stored inappropriately. It’s not in my interests to sell a chicken that’s out of date – that’s a scandalous allegation.’
Mr O’Shea claims Selfridges board members were aware of his actions and branded the ban ‘so ridiculous’, adding: ‘It’s a perfectly legal product which is misunderstood. It’s produced in very humane ways these days. It’s all been blown out of proportion.’
Ewan Venters, Selfridges’ food and restaurants director, stated ‘categorically’ that no board members knew Mr O’Shea was selling foie gras after the ban.
Expensive tastes: O’Shea’s foie gras was also allegedly bought by Sir Michael Caine, pictured with his wife Shakira
A spokesman for Ms Lawson confirmed that she had bought produce there, adding: ‘It has all been very much “above the counter.” ’
When asked if Ms Lawson had ever bought foie gras from Mr O’Shea, he said: ‘I can’t comment on what she has bought, but emphasise that any purchase has been in good faith that the product being bought was above-board.’
Sir Michael’s spokesman did not respond after we put the allegations to him.
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To Annabel Hinchliff, Audenge, France,
Why are you doing in France then?
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I love fois gras. My philosophy is the animal is dead anyway and if I don’t eat it then someone else will! It makes me laugh all these negative comments ….. Do you think a cow is gently sedated wrapped in love to make your big Mac? Nopes bolt through the head I am afraid!!!! Don’t like it then become veggie ….. But not before you have thought of those baby carrots being boiled alive after being brutally ripped from the ground …..
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Foie Gras is produced by forcing food down the neck of living animals when they are not hungry with no water to drink to this makes the liver enlarged. Which is wrong. We kill other animals before we eat them. Cattle are shot, Pigs are stunned. Get real if you didn’t eat meat there would be no need to breed them therefore no need for green fields and they would go extinct. And we would live in a concrete jungle I know what I would prefer
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Most of the negative comments on here come from people who clearly know nothing about nature. Ducks and geese force feed themselves until their bellies drag on the ground before migrating. It is simply imitating a natural process.
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If you wish to purchase some really bloated livers, turn up at the back door of your local mortuary and purchase the liver of someone who has died from their overindulgence of alcohol.
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but then they love their horse steaks aswell…
– Annabel Hinchliff, Audenge, France, 01/4/2012 09:28
Horse steak is second only to beef.
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Cow’s have a bolt pushed through their head’s so we can enjoy a lovely steak or a Sunday lunch but nobody complain’s about that! Like it or not Foie GRAS is lovely and there should be no shame in buying it. You should see what the chickens go through at KFC but I do love a Zinger burger…
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I love foie gras – as long as I close my eyes and forget the birds it’s nice – I forgot that in order to eat meat that we don’t kill animals in the UK !!
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You may not approve of the way the authentic foie gras is made, however I would suggest if you are a meat eater and have never tasted it, with a glass of Montbazillac you have missed out on one of the true epicurean delights that has been forced to the margins of acceptability in our “civilized society”. You can buy corn fed goose and duck pate from most good butchers in this country, its just not quite as rich and luxurious, as the geese and ducks are not force fed. Its not as good as the real thing, but then thats progress for you and it is substantially cheaper. I would suggest the duck pate with champagne and truffles from a well know upmarket supermarket with your choice of something similar to the Montbazillac. Who knows you may like it so much that you’ll be seduced to the dark side next time you are in the south of France and try some of the real thing?
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Anyone who agrees with this type of so called delicacy should go and see how these poor animals are force fed. As for battery hens I thought this process has long been stopped. Surely there are enough choices out there without having to resort to eating foods bred through cruelty. Veal is another one. If they want something sweet eat a trifle. At the end of the day these people have to live with their conscience. I enjoy good food and I can sleep at night
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