France is home to food festivals that celebrate everything from lemons in Menton to the pink onions of Roscoff. But few can rival Bessières’ Fête de l’Omelette Géante for its ambition
France does a good line in food festivals, celebrating everything from lemons in Menton to the pink onions of Roscoff. Yet few can rivalfor its ambition. This three-day event, which combines dinners, Easter Egg hunts, parades and performances, culminates on Easter Monday with a grand culinary feat — the cooking of a colossal 15,000-egg omelette, big enough to feed 2,000 locals and visitors.
By the time I arrive, the organisers — the grandly named Global Brotherhood of the Knights of the Giant Omelette — have already cordoned off the town’s marketplace for the big cook-off. As a bonfire crackles in the centre, about 100 volunteers, all dressed in yellow and white, gather around a long table and begin cracking eggs into large bowls.
I ask a member of the brotherhood about the legend that often gets touted as the festival’s origin. It tells of the occasion when Napoleon Bonaparte supposedly stopped off at an nearby and was so enamoured with the omelette he ate that he insisted on returning the next day with his army and ordered the innkeeper to prepare one large enough to feed them all. “Yes, some people tell that story,” says the local, rolling his eyes. “But it’s really about community and friendship around the world.
At the end of the table, a pile of eggshells steadily grows until it’s a metre high — at the end of the event, these shells will be taken by the locals and used for fertiliser and chicken rearing. Meanwhile, Bessières’ Chevaliers , identifiable by their tall toque hats, being positioning an 850kg, 13ft frying pan over the bonfire with the help of a forklift truck. They then tip 70 litres of duck fat into the pan as it warms.
I admit, I don’t have high hopes about the actual taste of a dish made on this scale, especially as the end result more closely resembles scrambled eggs, but when I take my first bite, I’m proved wrong. It’s delicious. I’d happily ask for seconds, but the giant frying pan is miraculously empty.Entry is free, along with a plate of bread and serving of omelette. This year’s event takes place 8-10 April.
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