Cochon de Lait, Mansura, Louisiana (updated, w/ pics!)

For anyone in or near Louisiana, the Cochon de Lait Festival (http://www.cochondelait.com/festival/) is Mother's Day weekend. If you've ever wanted to see a real, live hog-calling contest, watch a bunch of kids chase a greasy pig around a pen, or eat your fill of boudin and roast suckling pig, this is your big chance..

I'll be there if you need a tour guide. And if you're nice, I can arrange an autograph from the first ever Cochon de Lait Queen, crowned in 1952 (who also happens to be my mom).

No takers this year, but I'm hoping the following photos might entice some intrepid food travelers into making the trip in 2007. The city of Mansura, LA, hosts the Cochon de Lait festival every year, usually on Mother's Day weekend. Aside from a slight hiatus in the 70s and 80s (due to the appearance of wine coolers in glass bottles and a whopping crowd of 80,000 showing up and trashing the place..."the hippies were sleeping in the front ditch," according to uncle Ed), it's been going strong and getting bigger every year.

Note: This is my first time posting pictures, so please excuse the amateur shots and thumbnail-ish appearance. I will eventually figure out how to size them correctly (suggestions welcome!). Until then, you can click on the image to get the full pig effect.

There were about 40 pigs cooked for the main event. The men in charge tend the pigs all night long, turning the cage and stoking the fire (and drinking a bit of beer, no doubt).


The family hosts their own Cochon de Lait down the street…usually on the occasion of a wedding, but no one really needs that much of an excuse to eat pig in our clan. Uncle Ed, the patriarch of the family, is on the right. Cousins Matt and Beau, who will probably carry the pig torch for our generation, in the middle and on left.


The cutting and serving of the pig is a time-honored tradition…one rewarded by the first crack at the cracklings—that toothsome, crisp, fat-sheathed skin we all know and love.


And finally, the plate. Unfortunately, my food styling and photography skills suffer in inverse proportion to hunger. The hungrier I am, the less likely I am willing take time to focus, zoom, beautify and worry about lighting. The pork is mostly hiding under the dirty rice, green beans in horseradish sauce and sweet potato slathered in butter, but you get the point.

crrush,

Wow; now that's a good tradition. Many thanks for the pics.

Antonius

Some friends of mine from New Orleans made the trek out to the Cochon fest this year & they reported having a blast, and being amazed that the winner of the boudin eating contest finished off a whopping six pounds of boudin in half an hour.

You shoulda seen the women's beer-drinking contest...nevermind the hog-calling contest (my cousin won third place. If I can figure out how to post video, I'd love to get it on here).

Seriously, this is the festival that made me love food festivals growing up. The greasy pig-catching contest is, hands-down, the highlight, although there's a fine line between horror and entertainment watching some desperate 10-year-old take a flying leap to tackle a 50-pound pig while her daddy is screaming, 'Geet dat peeg, girl. Grab it bah the back legs like ah taught you.'

These are my people.