NATCHEZ — It was a matter of pride, honor and biscuits.

The Natchez Food and Wine Festival kicked off Saturday morning with the Sixth annual Martha White biscuit cook-off.

This year, the venue was changed to the Natchez Visitor’s Center because the traditional host business — Main Street Market — had closed.

Event coordinator Regina Charboneau said she was afraid the change in venue might confuse the public.

“But we were glad to move to an air-conditioned venue,” Charboneau said.

But the public showed anyway, and — as a bluegrass band serenaded the crowd — so did the friendly adversaries in the competition.

The first entry into the not-so-brutal fray was Mike McCrory, who brought a cast-iron skillet of plain white biscuits to the table.

“I cook biscuits three weekends a month for my friends at the Concordia Parish airport, so I get a lot of practice,” McCrory said.

The next to show was Merideth Trovato, whose bite-size biscuits were further contrasted with McCrory’s by the elevated silver platter on which they sat.

Trovato said she was entering the competition for the third time because she admires Charboneau.

“I would like to cook like her, and I can’t, so I try to support everything she does,” Trovato said. “But I love to cook anyway.”

The third, fourth, fifth and sixth entries all walked in at the same time, all in the arms of Betty Hancock.

Hancock’s biscuits included cathead biscuits, tea biscuits, bacon and sweet potato biscuits and bacon and tomato biscuits.

“I was actually going to do five types of biscuits, but I didn’t have time,” she said.

Her last entry — tomato and bacon biscuits — was admittedly experimental, having only been invented the night before.

“I was looking at the recipes, and I said, “If you can do a sweet potato biscuit, why not a tomato?” Hancock said.

The competition was stiff, and at the end of the day, the four judges had to split the decision for best breakfast biscuit and awarded both McCrory and Hancock first place.

Trovato walked away with first place for best party biscuit.

The food and wine festival will continue today at the Carriage House Restaurant with a champagne jazz brunch with two seatings, one at 11 a.m. and one at 12:30 p.m.

Tickets to the brunch are $50, and can be purchased at Natchez Pilgrimage Tours.