In each country, Easter is celebrated in a different way. In fact, the way to celebrate it can also vary depending on the region, as is the case in Spain, where gathering around a mona -a circular brioche topped with eggs- is typical only in some autonomous communities.
The same thing happens in France. Each neighbor celebrates it in their own way and some are much more original than others. In Bessières, for example, they celebrate Easter by preparing a giant omelette that requires 15,000 eggs, a hundred volunteers and feeds around two thousand diners. Almost nothing.
This year's omelette has been more special than ever, because the Fête de l'Omelette Géante de Bessières, the entity that organizes this unique culinary event in the country, is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary.
Preparing an omelette is not difficult, but things change when the dish must be enjoyed by the hundreds of people who live in this town in Midi-Pyrénées, as well as by visitors. The organizers explain that from very early, around a table, the 15,000 eggs that make up this colossal omelette begin to crack.
When the containers are full, they are dumped into a huge pan placed in the middle of the enclosure, protected by fences. It is at this moment when the cooks begin to beat the eggs with shovels, until the desired point is achieved.
The making of a giant tortilla culminates three days full of activities: dinners, Easter egg hunts, parades and other performances.
As the organizers explain on their website, by tradition, young people from the area met on the banks of the Tarn River on Easter Monday to taste the traditional omelette together.
The meeting's participants grew, and in 1973, Bernard Beilles proposed creating a brotherhood to "prepare and enjoy the giant omelette for the Bessiérain free of charge."
The giant Bessières omelette has grown in popularity, but it was in the 1980s that the brotherhood opened up to the rest of the world and similar culinary festivals began to be organized in other countries.
