You Crack Me Up!

Abstract

The Confréérie mondiale de les chevaliers de l'omelette gééante (World Fraternity of Knights of the Giant Omelet) spreads good cheer in several countries of the French-speaking world through the making and sharing of giant omelets. The tradition began in 1973 in Bessièères, France, where the townspeople fed indigent families in town. The practice of making a giant omelet soon spread to Frééjus, France; Malmedy, Belgium, and other cities with francophone histories: Dumbééa, New Caledonia; Granby, Quebec, and Abbeville, Louisiana. Each omelet has a regional flavor. The Louisiana omelet is influenced by Cajun and Creole cooking traditions. In Belgium, the omelet is made with pork lard. The recipe for Granby's more traditional omelet is familiar to most Quebecers: eggs, salt, parsley, thyme, pepper, scallions, and olive oil. In this case: fifteen thousand eggs, four liters of salt, five thousand scallions, and twenty liters of extra-virgin olive oil. The omelet is calculated to serve ten thousand.