We’ve known about the Omelette Festival ever since we met Elray Schexnaider in Abbeville. We’d seen a short video on it, and then Elray showed us the full chef’s suit that he wears. He had told us in detail the history and development of the festival, and of his and his family’s participation in the festivals, both here and in France. It’s one of the biggest events each year for both the Schexnaider family and for Abbeville. When Elray discovered that we were still here, he was shocked to think that we would leave only a week or two before the big event. So, always up for an adventure, we delayed our departure.
After our last Sunday at church, Lea took us to Abbeville and dropped us off. We hadn’t even gotten out of the car when Fred called us. He was only a block away! I should add here that we’d gotten to Abbeville, but we had no earthly idea how we’d get home, and we were praying that Fred would be available. We hadn’t seen Fred in ages so we had a ball talking to him and wandering through the booths at the festival.
The booths were very similar to the ones at Festival Acadiens in Lafayette, but they were in the shade, which gave it a much nicer and more relaxed feeling. There were somewhat different kinds of things offered in the booths as well. Again, we saw some items that we would have loved to buy, given the budget and space to carry them. We’d heard about funnel cakes for months, but we’d never managed to get one, as they are primarily at festivals. We’d heard they are like beignets. When we spotted a food booth that had them, Fred told us to try one. They are made of something similar to pancake batter, or to a sweet, ‘liquid’ bread dough. The batter is dropped into hot boiling oil into a metal ring, which gives it the traditional round shape. The batter is drizzled onto the oil, so it comes out with something like a waffle-weave. It takes just a moment to fry them and they are eaten hot and fresh, with powdered sugar. Mmmm, mmmm, mmmm. They are now added to our favorites list!
Maneuvering up to see the Procession of Chefs, we ended up in the hot sunny side, but up close to the front. I counted close to 30 chefs, dressed in full chefs outfits, complete with the hat. We were so excited to see Elray looking so elegant! They proceeded along the street, carrying flags of the various countries and cities where the festivals are held. After the usual speeches, the chefs got down to work.
Many of the eggs are cracked ahead of time, but a certain number are always cracked on the spot. The omelette pan is huge, specially made for the event, and stored all year just for this day. A huge fire is built into a sand pile right on the street, and the huge pan is moved over on top of the fire by a forklift. The pan is cleaned out and oiled, and then when the pan is hot enough, the ingredients are added. It’s no small feat to prepare all this – 5,000 eggs, 50 lbs of onions, 75 green bell peppers, 4 gallons of onion tops, 2 gallons of parsley, 1-1/2 gallons of cooking oil, 6-1/2 gallons of milk, 52 lbs of butter, 3 boxes of salt, 2 boxes of black pepper, crawfish tails, and Tabasco Pepper Sauce.
While the omelette cooked, the crowd was entertained by the Tabasco Girls Dance Team. We couldn’t see them too well, but it looked like a combination of hip-hop and cheerleading, very fun and lively. They came into the main area of the omelette-cooking after their dance, and spent the rest of the time Cajun dancing with whatever chefs weren’t cooking. I’m sure the festivals in France don’t include crawfish tails, Tabasco sauce, and Cajun bands!
Partway through the festivities we were delighted to see Ernesto Egoavil (a couchsurfing host from Lafayette, originally from Peru) standing right in front of us. The crowd was too noisy for us to talk much, but we had fun renewing our friendship. Ernesto had a beautiful camera, so we are hoping to get some good photos from him to show on the website.
When we saw Elray come by during the procession, we hollered like kids to get his attention. It took him a minute to spot us in the crowd (my bright lime green shirt and our wildly waving arms helped), and his delighted response at seeing us was really heartwarming. Partway through the speeches, Elray came over to us, and he had Lee and Sheila (holding Phillip) with him. They all looked gorgeous (in the chef’s outfits)! Later we saw Sheila’s son Courtney and exchanged waves, and we saw Carson, another of Elray’s sons. It’s truly a family affair for the Schexnaider clan.
There were two other high points of the day. When the omelette is finished, the chefs all line up with trays on which there are several bowls, each with a piece of fresh French bread. Each bowl is filled with a chunk of the omelette (it’s really scrambled eggs at that point), and the chefs spread out through the crowd, delivering the bowls to the onlookers. We were thrilled when Elray came and gave us the very first bowls that were served. Everyone around us was staring at us, wondering who we were to deserve such treatment! We felt like royalty.
The second high point was when we were able to get into the restricted area, and have our photo taken with Elray in front of the omelette pan. Ernesto did the honors for us, and we can’t wait to see the results. We’ll post the photo as soon as we get it from Ernesto.
One final note – as we wandered out to leave with Fred, we spotted the car show. It was like a walk down memory lane for me – there was a VW bug, which I drove in my mid 20s; a 1964-1/2 Mustang, which I drove in my early 20s; an MGBGT, which my dad and brothers drove during my later childhood and into my 20s; and a Plymouth Sports Fury, the car of my teen years. I’ve never seen those cars in a car show before – it’s usually cars from much earlier, or cars that are really unusual in some way. It was pretty funny being able to show Chelsea the cars, and tell the stories I remember about them (like being 16 and undoing the odometer in the Sports Fury when my folks were out of town and driving from Sacramento to San Francisco for dinner with my sister and a friend…ahh, the wild old days…).
Check out this link for more information on the Omelette Festival: www.giantomelette.org