Watch out! Pigs are taking over San Francisco! COCHON 555, the culinary event that features pork overload, five top chefs, and amazing wine makers is coming to an area near you.
The event is a competition of sorts, featuring five chefs, preparing five pigs in every way and dish imaginable, all with the goal of saving the pork’s heritage breeds and promoting breed diversity. Sound like a joke? Well folks, it’s not. The event will tour 10 cities and include the following: over 750 pounds of heritage pork, family-owned wineries sampling some of their best and favorite wines (the best pairings with pork of course), whole pig breakdowns and demonstrations (I’d personally be sure to take a bathroom break during this part of the show), a “Swine & Spirits” mixologist showcase, and a Meet and Greet VIP lounge that will include artisan cheeses, oysters, and reserved wines to sample from.
Brady Lowe, creator of the outside-of-the-box event and his participating COCHON 555 team, select each chef based on his or her support of local agriculture and heritage breeds. The participating wineries are all family owned. During the event, the chefs prepare the pigs quite literally from head to paw, or hoof, or whatever the technical term for pigs’ feet are. This immediately flashes me back to the scene during Forest Gump when Bubba and Forrest are listing off the countless ways to prepare shrimp- pork and beans anyone? Pork and potatoes, pork sandwich, pork-fried rice…you catch my drift I’m sure.
There are twenty judges at the event, all holding in their hands, the competitive title of “Prince or Princess of Porc.” Wow, no joking here people. That is really the coveted title. The winners of each event will go on to compete during the finale, the Grand Cochon, in Aspen to possibly win the coveted title of “King or Queen of Porc.”
If you consider yourself a pork enthusiast and want to attend either the San Francisco, or any of the other participating cities’ events, make sure to plan ahead and purchase your general admission or better yet, your VIP ticket. Prices range from $125 to $200. But don’t hesitate, pork lovers everywhere will surely be flocking to snag up their tickets. On a lighter note (as if this material couldn’t be any lighter), I will not be attending this event. For me, the whole construction and breakdown of the pig idea just makes me a bit squeamish. For me to attend, well, it would have to be one of those “when pigs fly” incidents.
