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15,000 eggs smashed for France's giant Easter omelette

The Local France
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15,000 eggs smashed for France's giant Easter omelette
Photo: AFP

In time-honoured tradition 10,000 locals turned out in a village in south western France on Monday to get a taste of the annual giant Easter omelette.

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Just like every Easter Monday for the last 43 years, 15,000 eggs were cracked in the village of Bessières, in the Haute-Garonne département.

It took 50 volunteers around one hour and a half to break all the eggs in preparation for the cooking. They then added several kilos of duck fat and a fair amount of salt, pepper and the local piment d’Espelette pepper to the giant pot, which measured some four metres in diameter.

As usual, cooking time was between 30 to 40 minutes – slightly longer than your average omelette, which is understandable given the size.

Then the omelette was distributed to the thousands who had turned up to witness the spectacle although there apparently wasn't enough for seconds.

 

 

 

 

 

The event dates back to 1973 when the town's shopkeepers decided to create the "Brotherhood of the omelette". The brotherhood, which is tasked with ensuring the tradition lives on, grows every year.

Former Irish rugby player Trevor Brennan, who lives locally, was made a "knight of the omelette brotherhood" at this year's event.

Although according to legend  the tradition is believed to be in recognition of when Napoleon Bonaparte and his army once spent the night near the town.

After eating (and evidently very much enjoying) an omelette made by a local innkeeper, Napoleon ordered the townspeople to gather all the eggs in the village to make a gigantic omelette for his army to eat the next day. 

 

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