MS. FOODINI: Beans, Babies, & King Cakes

It’s that time of year again where the south becomes full of celebration, color, and king cake.  A tradition that dates back hundreds of years, but the big debate is the origin.

Let’s tackle the king cake though, shall we?

That delicious brioche dough rolled up in cinnamon and spices and topped with a load of sugar, has become a competition on who makes the best. They’re filled with fruit spreads, cheesecake filling, cream, and whatever your heart’s content can conjure up.

Even savory king cakes are making a big move.  King cakes have a deeply rooted Christian meaning behind them that goes back to the 15th century in Eu- rope.

The name is derived around Christmas and the celebration of the 12th night of Christmas, or 12 days after the holiday. The 12th night is also called Three Kings Day, famously known from the three kings that visited baby Jesus.

The three kings became a symbol for the celebration of Epiphany, which is a reflection of God’s physical manifestation here on Earth. Ingredients may differ from back when but still remain quite the same from the 15th century.

Of course, instead of plastic babies, they used fava beans to represent baby Jesus.

The saying goes that the one who gets the bean, will have luck and prosperity throughout the year. This be- lief also changed throughout different countries as well.

The French have started the tradi- tion of king cakes having a crown on top, to represent the Three Kings, and awarding the youngest member of the family the fava bean and being the king/queen of the day.

However, we need to give thanks to the Germans who shaped the cake like a wreath, but they used an almond instead of a bean. The shape is known to be made into an oval to mimic the crown of the king as well as the unity of all faiths.

In the UK, they followed the French custom very similarly but they did a fava bean on one side and a pea on the other to allow two people to become king and queen for the day.

Little fact here too, Shakespeare wrote the Twelfth Night based on this history.

In Spain and Portugal, finding the fava bean was quite the opposite. The Portuguese created the tradition of finding the fava bean, which means buying the next cake.

In Spain, it meant that you would either return the symbol of Jesus to the closest church on Candlemas Day or throw a party for everyone that very day they found the bean.

So how did this tasty treat come to our country? It is believed that the Basque settlers had brought it over around 1718.

The Basque settlers were an indigenous group that inhabited the Basque Country that was in adjacent areas around France and Spain. However, the big debate here in the south has been where Mardi Gras originated from.

Some say New Orleans while others say Mobile. After some in depth research, it is believed that it all started in Mobile, Alabama.

As early as 1703, the French in Mobile held a type of Mardi Gras celebration and New Orleans wasn’t founded until 1718, but the king cake was believed to have been introduced to New Orleans in 1870.

When going through all this amazing information, I asked myself “why fava beans?”

Aside from the famous quote of Hannibal Lecter we all know, fava beans have a very rich meaning behind them.  Pagans and Christians combined their beliefs starting in the 1300s, and the fava bean represented a magical element that was significant in reli- gious beliefs and carried over into the celebration of Epiphany.

The bean was also labeled as the ‘King’ bean because children thought it to be so magical that it made them king/queen for the day.

Don’t forget about the colors!  Colors of royalty it shall be; purple, green, and gold.  Purple to signify justice, green for faith, and gold for power.

And what about the wacky fun we all have?

It’s said that in lieu of the celebration of history, it’s the last time to go crazy and eat to your heart’s content before Lent begins the next day.

Although there is much history to be considered that I tried to shorten a bit, there’s still so much more. For now, eat and be merry, enjoy the pa- rades and carnivals, and “throw me something mister!”