Giving Back at Le Pied Du Mont Boucherie Festival

Culinary Director and Executive Chef Nicholas Walker spent last weekend preparing delicious, locally-sourced dishes as part of a fundraiser and educational event on a Milledgeville farm.

The fourth annual Le Pied Du Mont Boucherie Festival, located at Comfort Farms, serves as a fundraiser and educational gathering of butchers, chefs, farmers and veterans coming together to celebrate the start of the growing season and work together to prepare seasonal and delicious meals from local, sustainable and organic sources. Most importantly, it aims to support the STAG VETS INC Agro-Cognitive Behavioral Therapy program to help combat veterans’ transition effectively into civilian life. Comfort Farms is the nation’s first Veterans Acute Crisis Agriculture Center.

Chef Walker was one of several prominent chefs who took part in the event, which was a throwback to literal farm-to-table meals. All proteins and some vegetables were sourced directly from the farm. Here is a sampling of Chef Walker’s dishes.

Day 1
Smoked Apple Cobbler, Candied Bacon, Bourbon Caramel.

Day 2
Smoked Goat Cheese Flat Bread with Red Onion Marmalade & Mustard BBQ Cured Pork Belly, Grit Cake, Red Pepper Jelly. The flatbread was made and cooked over an open fire.

Day 3
Traditional Head Cheese, Cornichon, Champion Mustard.

Chef Walker returned to his hometown for the weekend event. “I participated because of the idea that I could – through food – contribute to something bigger in our community and show support to our veteran community,” he said. “It means something to me about the sacrifices veterans have made for us.”

Le Pied Du Mont Boucherie is not only a celebration, it’s an opportunity to learn. The onsite education portion of the event consists of safe handling of livestock, humane dispatch, how to evaluate a healthy carcass, butchering techniques, understanding our growing season, identifying problems and solutions for a more healthy food system as well as how veterans can take an active role to provide food security for local communities.