PHILADELPHIA, Pa. (WLVT) - Today is Mardi Gras. The day, which means Fat Tuesday, often refers to celebrations held throughout the Carnival season, the period between Christian holidays Three Kings Day (Jan. 6) and Ash Wednesday (usually in February or March).
New Orleans is the heart of Mardi Gras in the U.S. For weeks, parades have rolled through the streets, complete with marching bands, masked float riders and of course, beads. But that doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate, too, up here in the North.
“We have spirit for everything here,” said Upper Darby resident Donna James.
“Actually I do think people in Philadelphia understand Mardi Gras a little bit,” said Philadelphia resident Veronica Waddington. “People here have a great sense of spirit about them when it comes to celebration and stuff like that.”
Chef Bill Beck of Beck’s Cajun Café knows how to bring the New Orleans spirit to the Philadelphia area.
“Food plays such a great part of all our lives, and Carnival is a celebration,” Beck said. “What better way to celebrate but with food?”
The café’s two locations at Reading Terminal Market and 30th St. Station serve up a variety of New Orleans-inspired Cajun and Creole food: “Po’boys, jambalayas, gumbo, alligator gumbo, shrimp and chicken, andouille and chicken. Around this time of year, Mardi Gras, we do King Cakes.”
King Cakes are a traditional Mardi Gras dessert, decorated in Mardi Gras colors purple, green and gold.
“King Cake is a Danish meets a cinnamon bun with cinnamon, raisins, some have pecans or cream cheese filling,” Beck said.
There’s a reason they’re called King Cake. Hidden inside each one is a little plastic baby (originally meant to represent the baby Jesus). Whoever finds the baby in their slice gets to be king or queen for the day, but there’s a tradeoff. They also have to buy the next King Cake.
In New Orleans, most people get Monday and Tuesday off this week to celebrate the end of Carnival and the beginning of Lent.
“You’ve got to give something up, since you’ve just had 45-plus days of debauchery, so this is the last hurrah,” Beck said.
Here in the Philly area, most of us still have to go to work or school, but Beck suggests we can all benefit from taking a step back to appreciate the day, and this time of year.
“It’s a great kind of end—what we hope is the end—of winter,” he said. “It’s almost a renaissance of change of season. Easter’s not that far away. Spring is around the corner. You just can’t quite see it yet, but you know it’s there.”
Locals are finding their own ways to live the Mardi Gras spirit today.
“I’m celebrating just the way I always do, with some King Cake,” James said.
“Find out where you can get some crawdads, a little more elusive up north, but King Cakes are readily available,” Beck said. “And just let the good times roll!”
Or as they say in New Orleans, laissez le bon temps rouler!
