Mardi Gras is Tuesday!
You’ve heard about the howling celebration in New Orleans but you may be surprised to learn that this holiday is also celebrated in France.
I was! As much time as I’ve spent in La Rėpublique I’ve never found myself in France during the month of February. Until recently I didn’t know Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, was “a thing” there, too.
Carnival parade in Menton, France.
This day is the culmination of the colorful carnival season that begins on January 6, the Day of the Epiphany, and ends the day before Ash Wednesday marking the beginning of Lent. Although carnival has religious roots, for many this holiday is a chance to celebrate, and, especially in France, to eat!
The Carnaval de Nice is one of the largest carnival celebrations in the world as local residents pour into the streets decked out in wild costumes to join local parades. Similar festivities erupt on the banks of the Seine in Paris and in many other locales.
Every region of France has its own special carnival traditions but all of them, it seems, include eating rich foods and that usually means donuts or beignets.
Bugnes from Lyon.
In Lyons, thin, crescent-shaped donuts called bugnes are the local specialty while Marseilles celebrates this de rigueur holiday with the enormous chichifregi, a spiral donut resembling an endless sausage of fried dough. In Provence delicate, oval oreillette are puff pastry pockets often filled with jam or chocolate. And in Orleans round rondiaux are sprinkled with powdered sugar looking most like (no surprise here) the beignets of Orleans’ namesake New Orleans. No matter where you go in France, the beignet is a fascinating Mardi Gras treat that can’t be missed.
Chichifregi from Marseilles.
This year Rêve Bistro will be celebrating Mardi Gras with a special dessert: a beignet of Chef Paul’s creation! Join us on Tuesday, February 25 to sample the Mardi Gras surprise Chef Paul has in store for lucky diners!
Laissez les bons temps rouler at Rêve Bistro!
What will the beignets look like at Rêve Bistro this year?