You had to have quite a fork on Sunday March 29 to enter the competition for the biggest manoul eater as part of the traditional Manoul Festival organized by the Brotherhood of Langonese Manouls of Gargantua. The thermometer showed minus 2°C and with the violent icy wind, the feeling must have been around minus 10°C!
Four courageous candidates still registered for the First Échanson competition, in the open air, in front of the Halle aux Grains, it is true warmed by the numerous spectators and the class 2026, who did the service and brought the hot and steaming manouls, as soon as the plate composed of a manouls and its flecque had been swallowed up. Two young people and two regulars battled with enthusiasm, while the speaker, Pierre Rodriguez, asked for encouragement from the crowd, under the ticking of the timer held by the president of the brotherhood, Pascal Laget.
Fifteen minutes which allowed the Poulidor of the stage, Raymond Tardieu to win the event for the second time in a row, with nine and a half manouls devoured, while Kevin Dominique follows him very closely with nine manouls, the two young people, Aaron Aboulin and Jules Masclaux, being content with one manoul and five and a half manouls respectively.
After this great match played in difficult conditions, Pascal Laget and his team presented the trophies to the winners of the First Échanson and the crowd of manouls fans went to get their portion of manouls and flecque, under barnums heated as much by human heat as by standing gas heaters.
Midi Libre correspondent: 06 72 11 89 06
