Death threats from anonymous callers claiming to be vegan activists have forced a Norfolk chef to drop foie gras from his Valentine’s Day menu.
Mark Dixon, the award-winning head chef at the Kings Arms at Fleggburgh, near Great Yarmouth, said he had received hundreds of threatening phone calls.
The intimidation included direct threats to any staff members who answered the phones and warnings that diners arriving for his £50-a-head special menu on Saturday and Sunday night would face pickets and demonstrations.
The pub was also targeted on Twitter and Facebook, and bombarded with fake reservations.
Not surprisingly, Dixon was not answering the phone at the pub on Friday. But he posted on Facebook: “We would like to apologise to all of our customers who haven’t been able to use our phone lines and social media pages today due to the vegan activists’ harassment over foie gras.
“We have listened to every opinion, but when people go as far as ringing our staff constantly, calling them murderers and [making] death threats, we class this as harassment and also inhumane to humans on the vegans’ behalf, and completely disgusting and unacceptable.”
The trouble began when Dixon, who said he has served foie gras in his restaurant before without any complaints, posted his Valentine’s special tasting menu on Facebook in January.
Foie gras, traditionally made by force-feeding geese or ducks until their liver becomes enormously enlarged, has long been targeted by campaigners against animal cruelty, including in pickets at Fortnum and Mason, the London department store
Protests against Dixon’s menu were posted by long-term customers of the Kings Arms, who said they loved his food but could not contemplate eating foie gras, and by outsiders, one of whom wrote: “Let’s all go for a romantic plate of tortured animal!”
The texts, emails and voicemail messages apparently came from as far away as New Zealand.
A Norfolk Police spokesperson said: “We received a report concerning threats made by numerous people, and the caller was spoken to and advised the matter would not be investigated further as no direct threats have been made.”
Dixon will be serving chicken liver and Cognac parfait on toasted brioche instead.