The King of Cakes

"Mardi Gras is not one day; it's a season full of festivities" exclaimed Chris, my New Orleanian roommate, when correcting me last week. With his sassy remark, I knew my newest challenge would be to learn all about this so called "season."

Lucky for me, the next day this very roommate received a Mardi Gras package from his parents. I thought it'd be some signs, maybe a flag and some beads. Oh no. I was completely wrong, and I knew it the moment I saw the FedEx box. This was no ordinary white box with the purple and orange logo on it. Nope, this was a completely decked out, Mardi Gras party in a box. Decorated with beads, masquerade masks, and the classic colors of Purple, Green, and Gold. My personal favorite part of the box? The smell seeping through the cardboard giving me a tease of what was inside. I felt like one of Pavlov's dogs, salivating immediately. I was hit with one of the best smelling boxes I've every encountered, and I just had to see, but mostly taste, what was inside.

Our half devoured King Cake 

What was inside? The best tasting cake in the world, aka King Cake. But no New York knockoff of the legend, true King Cake straight from NOLA itself. I'm not generally one for cake, but I could see myself getting diabetes simply by only eating this cake for the rest of life. And I'd be okay with that. If you think I'm being a bit dramatic, just get some for yourself. It's a mix of cinnamony cake with a light and sweet frosting that doesn't overpower the cake. Truly peace and harmony.

After experiencing my first bit of Mardi Gras, I knew I had to know more about this so called "season full of festivities." But after talking to my roommate about it, I soon realized the actual reason for all of the celebrations, parades, and galas: King Cake. It's that simple. New Orleans throws a 2 week long Carnival just for an excuse to eat some King Cake.




I sat down with some cake, sipped on a Hurricane, and took a crack at the New Orleans classic. I soon learned that Chris was right. Mardi Gras is a huge citywide celebration that everyone seems to partake in. On Mardi Gras itself, The Krewe of Rex is the centerpiece of the festival. It's an extravagant parade that runs throughout the city and ends on Canal Street. During the night, the Rex organization also holds a ball for all of its members. 

After eating another slice of King Cake, I realized that these are put on for no other interest than eating the holy cake.  Citizens of New Orleans don't want the cake to be just another cake that you can get whenever you want, wherever. No, it has to appear during a certain time of the year, just like Christmas or your Birthday. If they always had it, it wouldn't be special anymore. The same thing happens in Disney's Huey, Dewey, and Louie Christmas special. They wished for Christmas to come everyday of the year, and guess what happened... after only a few days, they were sick of it. Well the same thing can't happen to King Cake.


Instead, they created the "season full of festivities" to celebrate the Boss, the Sultan of Swat, the Chairman of the Boards, the Rolls Royce, the Godfather of cakes: the King Cake.