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History and tradition
History
Making foie gras is an age-old tradition, dating back over 4500 years. The detail of a fresco in an Egyptian tomb depicting a slave feeding figs to a goose is testimony to this age-old tradition. (Necropolis of Saqqarah).
Since the banks of the Nile are a crossing point for migrating geese and ducks, the Egyptians observed their natural ability to build up fat reserves before facing the return journey. They reproduced this natural tendency of palmipeds and developed progressive feeding practices (shown in several Egyptian tombs).
Tradition
This tradition was spread and perpetuated by the Jewish exodus communities, among others, who used the fattening of geese to produce fats to replace lard (considered unfit for consumption).
The fatty liver became known in Latin as “Jecur Ficatum” (liver due to figs). Foie gras first appeared on a Roman table in the 1st century BC, at a fabulous banquet reported by Horace. The Romans were so enamoured of liver fattened with figs that, from the 4th century onwards, “ficatum” (“with figs”) became the name for the liver of all fattened animals. A few centuries later, it gave rise to the anatomical term “liver”.
It was during the Roman period that foie gras was first consumed in the “Provincia”, then gradually in various parts of Romanised Gaul, including the South-West. Many populations of the Roman Empire, and of course our ancestors the Gallo-Romans, became specialists in this preparation. Then, throughout the Middle Ages, they consumed fattened animals and their foie gras in various preparations. In many regional languages, some words will even be synonymous with force-feeding. From the 15th century onwards, maize, a food particularly suited to geese and ducks, was brought back from the New World by Christopher Columbus and saw its cultivation develop in this region.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, the production of fat palmipeds was one of the staples of the peasant diet. In fact, cooking and preserving livers and meats in fat builds up reserves, reminding us that the freezer didn’t arrive until much later. Paradoxically, foie gras was also served at the tables of the kings and grandees of the kingdom under the ancien regime.
In the 19th century, the development of sterilisation processes led to the emergence of canning factories that would become major companies, selling their foies gras all over the world and quickly making them one of the jewels in the crown of French gastronomy. Since then, foie gras has been an integral part of France’s culinary and cultural heritage.