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9/20/07

AP: France Cracks Down on Songbird Delicacy - Jenny Barchfield

For the complete report from the AP click on this link

France Cracks Down on Songbird Delicacy - Jenny Barchfield

On the world's list of weird foods, ortolan — a bite-size songbird roasted and gulped down whole — can claim a place of distinction. It's an illegal place, though, since the ortolan is a protected species and hunting it is banned in France. Now the government is out to get poachers of the coveted fowl.According to tradition, the French shroud their head in a napkin to eat ortolan: Tucking into the bite-sized bird — which is killed by being drowned in Armagnac, plucked and roasted with its yellow skin and skeleton intact — can be a messy business. It's also an illicit one.

No longer on restaurant menus in France because of the ban, ortolan is eaten at home or served secretly to special restaurant clients. A single bird can fetch between $138-$210 on the black market, said Allain Beaugrain Dubourg, head of the League for the Protection of Birds.

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