Omnivore - Pork competition Cochon 555 comes to Atlanta

Cochon 555 has five of everything someone could ever want. The tour features five pigs, five chefs, and five wine makers in ten different cities around the United States. It’s a competition and in every city the audience and a panel of judges (including one of our own in Atlanta) will crown a “Prince of Porc” based on who makes the best use of the entire pig. Last year’s winner in Atlanta was Kevin Rathbun of Rathbun’s. He is competing again this year.

At the end of the tour all the “Princes” compete at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen to become the “King of Porc.” Each of the five chefs are carefully selected based on their past use of whole animals in cooking and focus on sustainability; the pigs are selected from heritage pork breeders; the wine is from local family owned wineries.The point of the event is to prevent the extinction of these heritage breeds by eating them. While killing animals to save them does seem like a bit of a contradiction, these events try to raise awareness.

Not that most of us need to hear anything more than that there will be 750 lbs of pork at the event, but there will also be a demonstration of how to slaughter a whole pig, “Swine & Spirits” mixologists showcase, and for the big spenders a “Meat & Greet” VIP Lounge.