Chicago, as you may or may not know, outlawed the serving or consumption of fois gras in 2006. True foodies, however, will not be denied their delicacy. While some restaurateurs have chosen to openly defy the ban, enjoying the publicity and challenging the law in court, others have chosen a more interesting (to me, at least) response.

From an invitation a friend just sent me:

The amazing chefs there will tantalize us with a 4 course Forbidden Foie Gras degustation menu complete with wine pairings. (I have done this with them before and it was amazing.) At this meal we will hand out 2 business cards to each person at the dinner with a logo and names of a few additional restaurants that will be participating in this little club. After this meal anyone with a card may present it at any of the named restaurants for a main course or appetizer that features Foie Gras, or as we are referring to it, redacted–ed.. You will need a card to get the secret serving at these restaurants.

While the subterfuge is as much for theatrics as security, I suspect that it is a sufficient countermeasure against anything but a warranted, targeted police raid of the establishment’s kitchen. It also, to an infoSec geek like myself at least, provides a nice example of non-IT use of two-factor authentication:

Something you Know — The name of the dish to ask the waiter about
Something you Have — The card identifying the presenter as someone “in the know” about the availability of fois gras on the menu

Bon Appetit!

Excellent! As a comparison to this form of two-factor, I have posted a clip of the Marx Brothers showing some of the weaknesses of single-factor authentication:

http://www.wikidsystems.com/WiKIDBlog/two-factor-for-foodies

You should also note that this form of two-factor is open source :).