International Festivals in November 2012 by JourneyMart.com

You can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs, right? And if you use the logic that the more eggs you use, the better the omelette, then the omelette made annually at Abbeville’s Giant Omelette Festival must definitely top the list- it consists of all of 5,000 eggs!

A tribute to Abbeville’s French connection, the Giant Omelette Festival has its roots in the French town of Bessieres, where Napoleon (on the march with his army in tow) once stopped for the night and ate an omelette he enjoyed so much that the next morning he ordered all the eggs in the town to be made into a giant omelette for his troops to feast on. Here on, omelette became traditional feast for the local people especially on Easter. It also became a symbol of friendship, world-wide fraternity and traditional and cultural exchange – known as Confrerie (Brotherhood of the World).

The “5000 Egg” Giant Omelette festival in Abbeville is an international event and the celebrations are like no other festival. Held in the town’s Magdalen Square, the festival is devoted completely to Abbeville’s Cajun heritage- street stalls sell local art and handicraft, there’s plenty of live entertainment with music and dance, lots of revelry and good authentic food- and the omelette, of course. Some more celebration highlights in Abbeville, Louisiana are Walk for Charity, “Egg Cracking” Competition, Poker Run and Antique Car Show. The lead-up to the actual making of the omelette is over two days, between 10 am and 5 pm, while the omelette itself is made at 2 pm on the second day.

The actual making of the celebrated omelette begins only after a ceremonial mass is held in the St Mary Magdalen Catholic Church; this is followed by a grand procession to the Giant 12 foot skillet where the eggs are carried- and at the end of which the omelette itself is made, in a giant frying pan, using huge 6-ft paddles. This pièce de resistance is made up of all of 5,000 eggs, 52 lbs of butter, 50 lbs of onions, 4 gallons of chopped green onions, Louisiana Crawfish tails, spices, Tabasco pepper sauce, and more. Abbeville Omelette has a flavour all its own! It takes a while to cook, and the end result is more like scrambled eggs than a true omelette- but who cares? It delicious anyway!

Did you know?

Every year the Abbeville’s Giant Omelette grows, along with the friendship between the participating countries. As every year one egg is added to the “5000 Egg Omelette”, so this year in 2012 the Giant Omelette will be made with “5028 eggs”!

The Omelette is distributed for free to everyone who’s around!

How to get to Abbeville, South Louisiana:

The closest airport is the Lafayette Regional which is situated within a 40 minutes drive.

When: 3rd & 4th November 2012

Where: Abbeville, Louisiana, USA