The French can be blamed for dozens of inventions that have revolutionized the world: the hot air balloon, aspirin, the pen, the Braille system or the cinematograph. French pride is to boast of all this, also of artists and writers such as Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas or Paul Cézanne. Or of having rebelled against the monarchical authority a few centuries ago, although some only prove it by singing the Marseillaise at the odd football game.
For others, French pride is creating the world’s largest omelette.
Fraternity above all, as the motto says, the members of the World Brotherhood of the Knights of the Giant Omelette from Bessières, a small town in the south of France near Touluse, they collect thousands of eggs every Easter to carry out a 50-year-old tradition: an omelet of biblical proportions.
This three-day event, which combines activities, parades and performances, ends with a grand culinary mission: the preparation of a titanic 15,000-egg omelette, big enough to feed 2,000 people. This year, with a rather gray economic situation behind us, including bird flu and the extremely high price of eggs due to inflation, the price to taste it has not changed: free.
The volunteers, dressed in yolk-yellow shirts, white trousers and chef’s hats, are part of one of the gastronomic brotherhoods that exist in France and promote local products. In fact, in the Gallic country there are brotherhoods of this type for each food: wine, cheese and other traditional dishes from remote towns.
An 850 kg frying pan and industrial pallets
The event began on Easter Monday at 6 in the morning, when the first attendees began to carry the 850 kg pan and more than 4 meters to the bonfire with the help of a forklift. And later they threw 70 liters of duck fat in the pan to warm up. The volunteers then transferred the eggs into huge aluminum pots to beat with paddles (typically used for mixing cement), to which were added chopped chives, salt, pepper, and the mild chili piment d’Espelette.
To conclude, the egg mixture was poured into the giant frying pan, the handle of which is made from a telephone pole, where it was stirred for several minutes with huge wooden paddles to prevent sticking and burning. The Festival even assigns several tasters to make sure the tortilla has enough salt and pepper.
This gigantic omelette takes around half an hour to cook and is then served on 6,000 paper plates, which are distributed along with forks and a hearty piece of French bread to the visitors gathered in the square.
A tradition that persists over time
According to some locals, the legend tells that the tradition began with the passage of Napoleon and his army by Bessières. It is said that a town innkeeper cooked him such an exquisite scramble that the next day, the general asked that all the town’s eggs be collected and turned into an omelette for his soldiers.
At Easter 1973, a group of friends decided to pay homage to this act and prepared the first “giant omelette” for the citizens of Bessières. Local merchants joined in and the tradition continued to be repeated each year. “It’s a story of friendship, it’s a story of sharing,” says Aliette Vernheres, president and grand teacher of the Confrérie, in this Washington Post report.
And it is that the festival of the Giant Tortilla no longer exists only in France, but is celebrated in many corners of the world. So far, large-scale tortillas are made in six cities through the same organization, including Fréjus (France), Pigüe (Argentina), Dumbea (New Caledonia), Abbeville (Louisiana, USA), Granby (Canada). ) and Malmedy (Belgium). Of course, each city has decided to celebrate it at different times of the year. So if you are interested in going, we recommend that you look at the different calendars of activities.
Images: Giant Omelet Festival
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