More Than a Few Eggs: French Cook 15,000-Egg Omelette

Since 1973, every year on the Monday following Easter, people in Bessières, France make a giant omelette, using 15,000 fresh eggs. 

Legend has it that when Napoleon and his army were traveling through the south of France, they spent one night near Bessières. Napoleon ate an omelette prepared by a local cook, and he enjoyed it so much that he ordered the townspeople to gather all the eggs in the village and to prepare a gigantic omelette for his army the next day. 

The people who attended this event shared the food. The Giant Omelette Brotherhood of Bessières also cooks this kind of giant omelettes on demand all over in France.

http://www.nbcnews.com

'Egg' Sheeran blasted out by farmers who claim the singer helps hens lay more

Farmers claim playing Ed Sheeran's music in the (Lego) hen houses helps the birds produce more eggs

Farmers are blasting out Ed Sheeran tunes after discovering that their hens lay loads more eggs when listening to the ginger-haired warbler.

Bosses at Yorkshire Farmhouse Eggs tried playing tunes from various artists - including classical, jazz and even Justin Bieber - to their hens, before finding out they liked 'Egg' Sheeran songs the best.

Adrian Potter, who runs the firm first started by his family in the 1920s, said the 25-year-old singer’s tunes helped keep their hens ‘calm and relaxed’ as they layed eggs.

He said the hens love the singer so much the even follow him around when he starts playing Ed Sheeran songs - like Thinking Out Loud, Kiss Me and aptly Little Bird - from a portable stereo on the farm.

Mr Potter, who looks after 250,000 free range hens, said egg production ‘shot up’ when the hens were played Ed Sheeran tunes compared to when they listened to music by other artists.

He has even put photographs of the singer up around his farm, which the hens, which now produce around 10m eggs a year, ‘take a lot of interest in’.

He said it probably helps that the singer was born nearby in Hebden Bridge, West Yorks - not far from the 400-acre farm in Thirsk in North Yorks.

Mr Potter - who runs the family business with brother James - said: “One of the comfort techniques we are keen on is playing music for the hens to listen to at key moments during the day keeping them as mellow and productive as possible.

“The music they respond to most positively is Ed Sheeran and they lay more and better quality eggs.

“He was born just down the road in Hebden Bridge and the hens seem to be huge fans - when Ed is playing the hens start laying!”

He added: “Pampering our hens is important because quite simply, happy hens produce better quality eggs and more of them.

Read more: Bird saves its friend with 'kiss of life' after it flies straight into window

“In addition to feeding them well, keeping the temperature comfortable and giving them space to move around, the hens enjoy a few extra luxuries, which in turn also helps to increase the quality and amount of eggs they produce.”

He added: “Nobody at the farm calls him Ed Sheeran anymore - he’ll forever be Egg Sheeran around here.”

The farm’s eggs are sold in 45 Yorkshire and Humber Asda stores.

Rebecca Long, buying manager for Asda , said: “All the farmers that we work with share our ethos and know that they get out what they put in to looking after their hens.

“We champion innovation and best practice in hen welfare, so playing music , especially songs by Ed Sheeran it seems, to help keep hens relaxed is great.”

http://www.mirror.co.uk