A boucherie is the Cajun communal event traditionally centered on butchering and cooking a whole hog for a neighborhood feast.
The practice developed in rural Louisiana communities, where families and neighbors cooperated to process a pig and preserve or share its meat. Work could include cutting the carcass, making sausages, rendering lard, and preparing dishes from different parts of the animal.
The French word boucherie means “butcher shop” or “butchery.” In Cajun cultural usage, however, it refers specifically to a collective food event as well as the butchering itself. Music, dancing, and socializing may accompany modern revivals and demonstrations.
A boucherie differs from cochon de lait, which specifically describes a young pig roasted whole. The terms can be confused because both involve communal pork-centered cooking, but a boucherie is defined by the broader cooperative butchering and processing tradition.