MSJE Hosts Culture-Melding King Cake Challah Events
- Feb 2
- 2 min read
New Orleans, January 30, 2025 – For the fourth year, the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience has partnered with New Orleans-area baker SerenaBakesBread to host a series of workshops that fuse Jewish food heritage with New Orleans traditions. On January 25th, the museum hosted a King Cake Challah workshop for children. On the 29th, adults were invited for an evening King Cake Challah Happy Hour.
In both cases, attendees decorated challah—a traditional Jewish bread—with icing, edible glitter, and colorful sprinkles to make a king cake, a treat eaten during Mardi Gras season in and around New Orleans. Kids were encouraged to name their king cake challahs in a round of show-and-tell, while adults launched the season’s Mardi Gras festivities with drinks, shmoozing, and culinary crafting.
This is the fourth year of king cake challah events at the museum. The kid-centric king cake challah workshop came first. Three years ago, responding to the popularity of the children’s programming, MSJE added its adult happy hour. Says Lizzi Meister, Public Programs Manager at MSJE, “It has been so special to combine Jewish tradition with Mardi Gras culture. These programs take two celebratory foods and turn them into something new and delicious in a way that celebrates our unique Southern Jewish identity.”
Southern Jews have a long history of combining local ingredients with traditional Jewish recipes, resulting in fusion dishes like matzoh ball gumbo. MSJE, located in one of the country’s most unique food cities, has recently worked to educate and celebrate that distinctive culinary heritage through events like a members-only Hanukkah cocktail-making class. The museum’s library also contains a wide range of archival cookbooks from Southern Jewish communities, intended to assist researchers focused on food history. These king cake challah events aim to bring this cultural legacy to a younger audience, putting a Jewish spin on Mardi Gras.
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