New Orleans' king cake tradition dates back to European Christian customs

The city of New Orleans is famed throughout the world for its unique history and local culture, renowned culinary scene, and iconically raucous celebrations — most notably Mardi Gras, which is celebrated throughout Carnival season and gets especially intense in the weeks leading up to Shrove Tuesday (the day before the start of Christian Lent). New Orleans offers plenty of culinary traditions to participate in year-round, from enjoying beignets and chicory coffee in the French Quarter to dining at the city's legendary haunted restaurants

The city of New Orleans is famed throughout the world for its unique history and local culture, renowned culinary scene, and iconically raucous celebrations — most notably Mardi Gras, which is celebrated throughout Carnival season and gets especially intense in the weeks leading up to Shrove Tuesday (the day before the start of Christian Lent).

New Orleans offers plenty of culinary traditions to participate in year-round, from enjoying beignets and chicory coffee in the French Quarter to dining at the city's legendary haunted restaurants, but if you visit during Mardi Gras, there's one colorful dessert you won't be able to escape: king cake.

King cake can take different shapes and contain decadent surprises, but it's best known in its traditional form: a sweet bread baked in a circular crown shape and dressed in the traditional Mardi Gras colors of gold, purple, and green. King cake also usually comes with a small baby figurine hidden inside, though this tradition only began in the 1940s, decades after people in New Orleans started celebrating the holiday with king cakes. Finding the baby makes you the king or queen of the day and also means you are expected to throw the next king cake party (ah, the pressures of royalty!).

Unlike other traditional holiday foods, king cakes are usually outsourced rather than made at home, and many New Orleanians are loyal to their longtime bakery of choice. Their origin can be traced back to European Christian traditions, but in the Mardi Gras capital, king cakes have taken on a life and significance of their own.