A group of fifth graders from Shepherd Elementary in Washington, D.C., gets a taste of king cake at the French embassy. They're visiting as part of the city's Embassy Adoption Program, which pairs embassies with local public school students.
ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST: It's Ash Wednesday. Mardi Gras is over. So it's goodbye to king cake. Or maybe just one more piece of that brioche pastry topped with purple, green and gold sugar. King cake has roots in France, where it has fewer sprinkles, more cream. Some fifth graders here in Washington got to taste the French version from an expert at the French embassy. Kat Lonsdorf of the NPR Ed team got to tag along.</s>UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Class.</s>KAT LONSDORF, BYLINE: In a big fancy building at the embassy, the fifth grade French class from Shepherd Elementary is on a field trip extraordinaire.</s>JOSHUA JENNINGS: Bonjour. Je m'appelle Joshua Jennings.</s>KAT LONSDORF, BYLINE: Joshua's never been to an embassy before, and he's taking it seriously.</s>JOSHUA: We have to be on our best behavior because this is where people from France came to at least show us, like, how they do things, what's going on, so...</s>KAT LONSDORF, BYLINE: What's going on today is, well, pretty classically French - a French chef speaking French, making French pastry.</s>MARK COURSEILLE: Parle Francais? Un peu? Oui?</s>KAT LONSDORF, BYLINE: Chef Mark Courseille is the embassy pastry chef.</s>MARK COURSEILLE: OK.</s>KAT LONSDORF, BYLINE: As he rolls out the dough, he explains that king cake is typically a post-Christmas tradition in France. But here in the U.S., he says...</s>MARK COURSEILLE: They start to make king cake from January 6 until Carnival.</s>KAT LONSDORF, BYLINE: The point of this trip isn't the cake, though. That's just a bonus. The students are here as part of the city's Embassy Adoption Program, which pairs 78 different embassies, each with a class from a local public school. The students study the culture, the history, the language and, yes, the food of that country all year, all capped off with a visit to the embassy.</s>KOUTOUAN GADIE: My name is Koutouan Gadie, and I'm the French teacher at Shepherd.</s>KAT LONSDORF, BYLINE: Gadie says this is a great opportunity.</s>KOUTOUAN GADIE: Learning outside of the classroom, it's like a different type of learning.</s>KAT LONSDORF, BYLINE: Chef Courseille, with his big white chef's coat, has the students' full attention as he pipes an almond filling onto the dough.</s>MARK COURSEILLE: And on the top I'm going to put another layer of pastry.</s>MARK COURSEILLE: UNIDENTIFIED CHILD #1: Like a sandwich.</s>JOSHUA: Yeah, pretty much. It's just like a sandwich.</s>KAT LONSDORF, BYLINE: And then, like magic, he pulls out a cake that's already been baked.</s>MARK COURSEILLE: We're going to eat that.</s>JOSHUA: Oh, yeah.</s>KAT LONSDORF, BYLINE: Bon appetit. It's a hit.</s>JOSHUA: Oh, my goodness. This is good.</s>JOSHUA: UNIDENTIFIED CHILD #2: That's so good.</s>KAT LONSDORF, BYLINE: As for Joshua's first trip to an embassy...</s>JOSHUA: I'm going to remember this forever.</s>KAT LONSDORF, BYLINE: Kat Lonsdorf, NPR News, Washington.