Galettes - the France gastronomic tradition
Today, the 6th of January, is the day of epiphany. The epiphany celebrates various events from the life of the young Christ, notably the day when the Three Kings presented their gifts, and his baptism by John the Baptist.
The main reason the French look forward to epiphany is, of course, because it is the day to eat galettes!
The galette - more accurately ‘galette des rois’ - is translated in the dictionary as ‘Twelfth Night cake’ although ‘cake of the three kings’ would seem closer. It seems that even across France there is disagreement about what a galette should be like, but around here (and in many parts of France) it is a round, flat, puff pastry tart, about 25 centimetres across and filled usually with frangipane, the close almond cousin of marzipan.
I say ‘usually’ filled with frangipane, because cake shops tend to take liberties with tradition, and you can find galettes filled with everthing from apple to chocolate spread.
The galette also contains a secret - a ‘feve’ is hidden in the cake. Although feve means ‘green bean’, I assume that no-one actually hides beans in their galettes any longer. Rather, a small pottery figure is put inside each galette, and whoever is fortunate enough to find the ‘feve’ in their slice is allowed to (obliged to!) wear the paper crown that comes with the galette.
There are risks for people with poor teeth, the elderly, and the unwary in eating a slice of galette, as you might expect when you hide small hard objects in food. Biting the head off a porcelain princess can spoil the best of plans and family gatherings. Make sure your children know what they are eating and might come across!
These feves can take any form - I’ve seen plenty of kings and flowers, but also disney characters are just as likely to turn up. Children love collecting these little ornaments, and we have a good collection around here somewhere…
One last warning, when you are cutting the galette into slices you will often come across the feve. Do not let your children see which slice it is in or there will be havoc as they argue about it.
If you have never had a galette, and you will be in France in the next few weeks, give it a try (they usually sell them for a month or two after epiphany). It is an extremely popular tradition among French children (and plenty of adults, including me).
Anyway, we are off to a galette party this afternoon, so I will probably be offline for a couple of days while I receive urgent dental help.
