Tradition!

Granted, culturally embedded food traditions don't make a whole lot of sense to outsiders. I'm half Norwegian and lutefisk doesn't make sense to me. And the thing about French chefs, in their desire to preserve tradition in the preparation and serving of an endangered songbird, petitioning their government to allow them to eat the ortolan is this. These tiny birds are captured and often blinded or merely kept in the dark so that they will gorge themselves. Thereby increasing their proportional fat so they will be ever so much more delicious when consumed. Prior to roasting the kill is accomplished by drowning them in cognac. I'm fine with people eating what they like to eat even if it grosses me out. To each his own. But the treatment of these birds is not only cruel, it's unusual to the point of fetish. As far as I'm concerned, this is a case where a groaning and slow moving bureaucracy is an advantage. Vive le gouvernement!