Eric Brachet’s studio in La Capelle-lès-Boulogne. Eric Brachet / Facebook
Led by an enthusiast, a team of fifteen people set themselves the goal of building a 6-meter-high pepper plant.
“It’s gonna be a monster!enthuses Éric Brachet. At 56, this director of a woodturning school in Boulogne-sur-Mer has embarked on a challenge that is astonishing to say the least: to build the largest pepper mill in the world. The idea came to him thanks to his community on social networks, and in particular his Facebook page, on which he hosts a live show every Sunday evening. “One day, I was presented with a 20cm pepper pot, then a bigger one the next week, and this testosterone contest was not going to stophe laughs. I then said to myself: it does not tell you to fart the world record ?“.
Passionate about woodturning for 20 years, Éric Brachet describes this technique as the “rotating work of a piece of wood on a machine, which requires cohesion between man, tool and material“. This activity was first for him “an outlet: I occupied positions of great responsibility and I needed to evacuate“, he says. A burnout prompted him to change his life six years ago, setting up, accompanied by his wife, a bed and breakfast as well as a woodturning workshop, which later turned into school.
To enter the Guinness Book of Records, Éric Brachet’s project will have to beat the 4m98 pepper pot made by Canadians. The craftsman is confident: “I had to bring this record back to the land of gastronomyhe smiles. The woodturner and his team of fifteen people therefore have the objective of making a pepper pot at least six meters high. “We’ve been working on it for a year. We started with a skills assessment of each, with the idea of getting out of our comfort zone.“says the enthusiast. The association of wood turners in the Côte d’Opale was even created to carry out this mission.
Total cost of the operation: more than 100,000 euros
Since the beginning of January, the small Franco-Belgian team has moved on to the operational phase: chopping wood. To be taken into account, the pepper pot must be functional. Made of beech, it will contain some 400 kg of pepper. Total cost of the operation: more than 100,000 euros. Supported by numerous sponsors, the small Franco-Belgian team has also launched a kitty on the HelloAsso platform. “We started from zero» and the increase in the cost of raw materials has complicated the task, says Éric Brachet. “We need help“, he adds.
The team hopes to assemble the pepper mill the week of June 3 in the parking lot of the Saint-Martin-Boulogne shopping center. The work will then be sold at auction, and the money raised will be donated to local associations. With the hope of bringing, on D-Day, the famous judge of the Guinness Book of Records.
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