Founder of the pork-centric culinary competition Cochon 555, Brady Lowe helped spark a national conversation about heritage breed pigs. Together with top chefs, notable media, and influencers, his series of national events build genuine connections for a network of brands dedicated to supporting family farms while cultivating a safer food system.
Featuring a series of national event, The COCHON U.S. Tour includes winner-takes-all culinary showdown Grand Cochon in Colorado, outdoor food and wine event Heritage Fire, friendly cooking competition Heritage BBQ, and the Cochon 55 Chefs Course Dinner Series.
Today’s food culture is very focused on the now and new, next, happening thing so, what inspired you to look deep into the future of the culinary landscape and decide to champion family farmers and Heritage pigs in particular?
This was pretty easy for me. I started with six years of dedicated wine and cheese education, teaching people how to pair the boutique, hand-made and artisan. For me, it has always been about the story behind the producer that has engaged me, and when you get to know them, it’s so much easier to promote them. Heritage breed pigs were the next progression for me, except I think pig tasted a little better than cheese in the right hands or in the right kitchen. But isn’t this what its all about anyways? The person holding the pig, or the cheese, or the beef, is the one expected to inspire others? But where does it all start? That is where my journey began with cheese, as it does now with pigs. To inspire people, you need to know the root of product. For somms it’s the vines, region and winemaker. For chefs, it’s the seed, soil and grower. For me, it’s the breed, the origin, and farmer. I believe in the totality of sourcing safe food and the ecosystem of entrepreneurialism it has created. The heritage breed pig market is fighting to survive I want it to thrive. I’m pushing everyday to find more futures in the landscape for heritage breed pig farmers with programs like Cochon555, the Late Night Asian Speakeasy, our annual awards program called Chefs Course and even a big thought transforming charity called Piggy Bank. When you believe in something, and it tastes amazing, it gets people excited and it’s easy to champion.
How do you decide which chefs are invited to participate in Cochon555 or any of your other branded events?
We look for champions of the farmers! Remember, small farmers don’t have advertising budgets they put all their money and time into growing safe food in the hopes that someone finds out about them. When a chef finds a local farm and puts their name on a menu, thats like landing a front-page story. When the chef takes time to have his team talk to their customers and mention a farm tableside that is education you can’t pay for. When a chef takes time out of his personal life to commit to events to talk about local food, they are standing for something I really admire, rooting for the underdog. We read menus looking for chefs who mention breeds on menus, like Vinegar Hill in Brooklyn who in 6 years has never taken their “Red Wattle Pork Chop” off the menu. Holding a species on the menu stands for something, people ask, they eat, and they understand the difference. Reading menus tell us a lot about the chef from what breeds they have worked with, if they have a whole animal program, to farms they work with, all of this is found in a trail of information throughout the coverage in the digital and social landscape. We also look at chefs who are active in the responsible food landscape; we talk to farms, other chefs and read the media as well as menus. Chefs are also encouraged to sign up on our website for consideration, we always come across new people through people signing up on cochon555.com.
How many Cochon555 branded events do you put on each year and how do you choose the host cities?
We put on about 70 events per year. Each weekend has two charity dinners and one big event like Cochon555, Grand Cochon, Heritage BBQ, and Heritage Fire. Cities are chosen by their rank as a whole pig chef city, total population and their support of local agriculture.
After hosting these events for so many years now, have you gotten to work with all the chefs that you’ve wanted to or do you still have a few left on your dream list?
We have worked with some amazing chefs, but the dream is to have a Mentor version where we get Ducasse, Keller, Andres, Boulud, Palmer, etc. in a fun and friendly competition for Piggy Bank. I feel they are seeing the world from the top of the mountain, rightfully so, yet I would like them to see this really rich topsoil of the event and see what Cochon555 is doing to start a movement. Its really about them being witness to one event and how the energy multiples. Additionally, their teams would manage all the work, but I believe it would be a great exercise for the good food movement. We have been very fortunate to work with top names of chefs who when we started in 2008, they were working for someone else and now are operating an empire or have become very successful. The chefs we work with love what they do, and the food at each event showcases their passion for the love of food, and pig.
Lastly, what’s the best meal you’ve had recently?
I love eating all around the US, and this question is so hard to answer because number one, I love food. Second, I am eating out 88% of my life so my eating problem is epic. One of my favorite places to eat is at Del Posto in New York City. The best meal recently would of had to been judging the Cochon555 NYC to kick off the tour this year, to be able to enjoy five chefs cooking whole pig side by side where each bite is a campaign for the best bite of the day, its really hard to beat that. I love judging each and every event, its like giving top chefs in a market, each one whole pig and then eating five tasting menus side by side. It’s insane. The most recent memorable meal would of been at Vic’s in NYC, sitting at the bar, eating a ton of amazing vegetables and pasta, Chef Hillary really knows what she is doing.
