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britbanana OP t1_j9gur68 wrote

Reply to comment by AutomationBias in King Cake by britbanana

I'm from Northern Virginia and my husband is from Richmond and we both had it throughout our childhoods and in college. I wonder why it's gained more popularity there than here.

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mynameisnoteliza t1_j9hkzck wrote

I'm from northern VA too so I just want to corroborate what you're saying for the other commenters. Every bakery and grocery store has king cakes out the 2 weeks leading up to Mardi Gras.

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britbanana OP t1_j9honao wrote

Thank you! I was starting to question my own memory

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Tacoman404 t1_j9jgp7d wrote

Oh shoot now I understand why we don’t have it here. Our Fat Tuesday celebration isn’t based much at all on the New Orleans/French one. It’s based on the Polish one so we have Pączki instead.

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poprof t1_j9j78o1 wrote

New England was settled by Protestants - Protestant culture still rules. Mardis Gras is connected to Catholic tradition preceding lent.

So I’d guess areas that were catholic/french catholic were more likely to celebrate.

I buy my king cakes online and have them shipped

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AutomationBias t1_j9jd5vp wrote

Massachusetts and Rhode Island have the largest Catholic populations in the country, so I guess it must be the French part that we're missing out on.

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Acrobatic_Resource_8 t1_j9jf1l7 wrote

I guess culturally the bigger question is whether or not there’s a big pre-Lent Carnival season in Ireland. If not, there’s your answer.

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Tacoman404 t1_j9jh1qn wrote

Likely. Our Fat Tuesday foods have more Polish roots with Pączki.

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hillza87 t1_j9jz8ih wrote

New England has a quite a sizable French Canadian population and many of us have connections with the Louisiana French via Le Grand Derangement, i.e. Cajun is the anglicized word for Acadian.

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