St. Tammany Taste Quick Bites: Backwater Foie Gras

Image by: Kate Gauthreaux, Louisiana Eats!

Foie gras – that’s French for fat liver. This celebrated luxury food is found mostly in high-end restaurants where even a small amount is quite costly. Traditionally, foie gras production has centered in the Aquitaine region of France where for hundreds of years ducks and geese have been carefully fattened in order to produce the large, ivory-colored lobes. Force-feeding is usually mentioned in conjunction with foie gras production, but the truth is wild birds in nature annually gorge themselves before migration. Domestically, that process is humanely mimicked by caretakers who gently hand-feed their birds a high-calorie meal that aids in the fattening, a process known as gavage. There has been limited foie gras production attempted in the U.S. but today, Ross McKnight is creating some of the most beautiful fois gras seen this side of the Atlantic Ocean at his farmstead, Backwater Foie Gras in Bush, Louisiana.

Poppy got to know Ross visiting with him weekly at the Crescent City Farmers Market. What a thrill it was to finally visit his farm to learn all about the process. Gathered around the family dinner table were Backwater’s foie gras muse, Mailys Dias who ignited his interest with a taste of foie gras from her home country of France, Ross’s wife, Dorothy, and his parents Julie and Dan McKnight, who all play a major role in the farmstead operation.

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This podcast was produced by Blake Langlinais for Poppy Tooker Broadcasting.