Aaaah the untranslatable insatiable French

A couple of weeks ago i was doing some shopping (as one does when the fridge is empty) at our local supersized grocery store and there it was. The leaflets they give out to entice their clientele to spend on the specials.
You must understand - in an effort to pretext- that the French are very traditional with their specialties; not shocking i understand. However, they have a tradition for "fois gras" every Christmas. Whether it be cooked, raw, on fancy toasted little rounded breads, in a spreadable form, with or without figs, before or at the main course; the French love their "fois gras".

I'll drink the champage or Montbazillac that it's usually served with - but non merci - je n'aime pas le fois gras.

Directly translated "fois gras" means fat liver.
Try to imagine; yuummmm, a piece of a goose's liver that has turned to fat because it's been force fed for many many months, on a piece of pretty round toast.
To me, this is not heaven. And in all fairness i've tried to like it but my tastebuds just won't give in. They say no. But, pass the champagne will you?

So, as the holiday season approaches, and the ducks and geese get more and more nervous, the grocery store appropriately has a "Foire au Gras"

Again, litterally translated doesn't really do justice to all that it implies in France.
It means "A Festival of Fat"

Dare I even say that this phrase would never, ever, never adorn the circulars of supermarkets in the States? When I hear 'A Festival of Fat' (in english of coure) I imagine a striped circus big top, with many many badly dressed over-fat clowns.

Mais à la française -


Note - the image you see isn't a raw chicken ; it is in fact an entire raw goose liver (a huge hunk of fat) shaped like a small chicken.
shocking non?