As with many festivals in France, the feast of the Epiphany has its own special food.
Whereas Christmas and New Year's Eve is all about oysters and foie gras, January 6th is all about the Galette des Rois (Kings' Cake).
So what is a Galette des Rois?
It’s basically a frangipane tart made with pastry, butter, ground almonds and a few extra ingredients that will stretch the already bursting waistline for one final time before the January dieting begins.
It is eaten on January 6th each year to mark the feast of the Epiphany – when the three kings (allegedly) turned up to give gifts to Baby Jesus.
The tradition of eating the cake dates back to the 14th century. According to tradition the cake was to draw the kings to the Epiphany.
Interestingly during the French Revolution the name was changed to Gâteau de l’egalité (equality cake) because it wasn’t really the done thing to be a king at that time.
Ah but it isn’t. The Galette des Rois is not just about having a cup of tea and something sweet. There’s an age-old protocol that needs to be followed and it's all to do with the little charm that bakers hide inside the cake.
First of all the youngest child has to hide under the table and tell whoever is cutting the cake who should get which piece.
Whoever finds the charm, known as a féve, in their slice (as long as they don’t swallow it) gets to wear the crown that comes with the tart and then names their king or their queen.
And then everyone just sits down and scoffs it. Normally with either cider or champagne.
And of course we can always rely on Richard Legay, the famous baker from the Marais district of Paris, to come up with his own special take on the galette – see pics below. His boulangerie Legay Choc is well known for creating penis-shaped patisseries.
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What’s the point?
It’s tradition of course (well maybe not the penis-shaped ones). According to Direct Matin newspaper, the pagan custom dates back to Roman times, when festivals were organised in honour of the gods between late December and early January.
Masters and slaves ate together and a bean (a fève) was slipped into one of the dishes and whoever got it was hailed king of the feast.
When the church instituted the festival of the Epiphany to celebrate the arrival of the three wise kings, the tradition of the bean in the cake remained.
I’d hate to find a bean in my cake…
Well luckily, although la fève used to be a broad bean, it was replaced in around 1870 by a variety of figurines made out of porcelain or – more recently – plastic.
These plastic figurines used to be in the shape of babies to represent Jesus but can now be anything from a car to a shoe.
Real Galette des Rois fanatics will collect the charms year after year and build up a fine array of little trinkets. One man named Bernard Joly has over 1,200 according to France TV info.
Some bakers, fearing they could be sued if someone chokes on it, put the charms outside the galette and leave it up to the buyer to hide it.
So everyone in France will have their cake and eat it?
Pretty much. Boulangeries in France love this time of year as their takings are boosted by the sale of the pastries.
Although Emmanuel Macron is not allowed the chance to become king for the day.
The French president is not allowed to “draw the kings” on Epiphany because of the etiquette rules. “Therefore, a traditional galette without figurine or crown is served at Elysée Palace.”
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