To make an omelette you’ve got to break a few eggs, or so the saying goes. However, if it is Easter Monday and you happen to live in the tiny village of Bessières in southwest France, that omelette will be cooked in a frying pan with a diameter of four metres and will require 15,000 eggs to make.
Since 1973, locals in the Haute-Garonne village have whipped up a giant omelette for Easter Monday. Although the tradition has only been observed for less than half a century, its origins are said to date back to the time of Napoleon Bonaparte when he and his soldiers stayed overnight nearby. Napoleon had enjoyed an omelette he had been cooked so much that he asked that locals collect all the eggs in the village and cook a massive version for his army.
Around 10,000 people are expected to visit Bessières to eat part of the omelette, which requires around 50 volunteers to make. According to the Local, it takes around 90 minutes to break all of the eggs and around half an hour to cook it. Duck fat, salt and local d’Espelette pepper is also added to the frying pan.
Bessières is located around 30km northeast of Toulouse and can be visited on a road trip which encompasses some of the finest architecture in the region. As well as a number of arresting architectural sights in Toulouse such as the Romanesque Basilique St-Sernin and the peach-coloured cloisters of Couvent des Jacobins , other places of interest include the twin-towered Cathédrale Ste-Marie in Auch, the Abbaye de Flaran at the northern edge of Valence-sur-Baïse, and the Gothic splendour of Condom, including Cathédrale St-Pierre, a flamboyant edifice with adjoining cloisters. The fortified town of Montauban is also worth exploring.
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