The Chronicles of Adriana: 3 King's Day

Galette des Rois figurines

The 3 King’s day or “Jour des Rois” is a very traditional and celebrated catholic holiday in France. The tradition on that day (January 6th) is to get together with family and friends to eat the Galette des Rois: a cake made with layers of pastry with a filling of an almond paste (similar to the Spanish torta Santiago). The cake, which you can either buy ready to eat in a box from your local supermarket, from a bakery or even bake your own, is usually accompanied by a glass of cider and it comes with a little surprise inside. Each galette comes with a little ceramic or plastic figurine. The person who gets the piece of cake with the figurine inside becomes the king or queen for the day, gets to wear the crown that comes with every galette and gets to host the same party the following year. That day I was invited to Carolina’s home to eat the Galette des Rois with hers and her husband’s relatives. Even though we not follow the whole process that is involved in eating the cake it was explained to me and here it is:
-The cake is cut into pieces.
-The youngest person in the room goes underneath the table with his/her back facing opposite the attendees.
-The person sitting underneath the table dictates the order in which the other people will get their piece of cake. This will ensure the randomness of the process.
-Once all the pieces have been distributed everyone gets to eat and enjoy the cake hoping not to break their teeth by chewing up on the figurine.
-Lastly, whomever gets the figurine in his/hers piece of cake gets to wear the crown for the remainder of the party.

The cake is really, really good. There were a couple of them at the party, one of which was home made by one of Loic’s cousin. They have promised to get me the recipe so I can attempt to reproduce it next year…ja ja ja!!, even though I was not the one who got any one of the figurines.