Cochon555 Is Coming Home To Atlanta This Sunday

ATLiens, get excited to eat (and learn about) some heritage breed pork! Cochon555 is coming to Atlanta — the city where this culinary tour first started in 2008 — this Sunday, June 25, 2017 at the Ritz Carlton in Buckhead.

Cochon555 is a culinary festival and 14-city tour that supports of family famers and focuses on educating chefs and consumers about the importance of "Old World livestock." This essentially means the utilization of heritage breed pigs, which are descendents of early pigs raised in open pastures on family farms. These pigs are also generally raised without antibiotics or steroids. They have a distinctly flavorful taste that is more complex and creamier than a lot of commercially produced livestock. They also have a natural marbling that reduces the need for artificial flavoring, butter, and oil to evoke flavor.

On Sunday from 4 to 8 p.m., diners will taste a wide array of dishes with a common focus on pork. In fact, 1,500 pounds of pork will be served throughout the afternoon and evening, accompagnied by craft cocktails and a wide selection of wines and beers. Furthermore, the event has a contest element. Five chefs — Robert Phalen of One Eared Stag, Drew Van Leuvan of Seven Lamps, Stephen Toevs of Trade Root, Michael Perez of Donetto, and Andre Gomez of Porch Light Latin Kitchen — will cook five pigs in competition for the votes of event attendees and industry judges.

The competition is for a good cause; proceeds from the event go to the Piggy Bank charity. The charity's mission is to "better the future of our food by creating a community for safer, more enlightened farming practices through the sharing of genetics, livestock, and information." It focuses on helping famers by creating an open flow and circulation of information about best practices in pig farming.

Cochon555 chefs use the entire pig, from the snout to the tail, cooking six dishes each for 450 people. There are also parallel competitions for barkeeps (Punch Kings) and sommeliers (the Somm Smackdown), as well more than 30 artisanal wines from the likes of Silver Oak and Kosta Browne, more than 15 spirits and cocktails from distillers such as Angostura rum and Breckenridge bourbon, and pop-up food experiences, like a heritage pork ramen bar and swine-and-sweets.

According to communications director Robert McKeown, "Cochon555 is an event that tells a story: of a unique form of agriculture — heritage breeds — and how the farmers behind it are just as important, if not more, than the chefs who cook it. At any of our events you can not only taste the delicious product of this labor, but meet the farmers and cooks themselves."

The tour started in New York City in January and will ultimately culminate with the national finale: "The Grand Cochon" in Chicago on October 1. At this event, 14 chefs and 14 barkeeps will compete in a culinary competiton centered around cooking pigs deliciously, beautifully, and sustainably.

Tickets are available here.