Hard choices at the king cake counter

If you were hiring at New Orleans’ King Cake Hub, an annual pop-up clearinghouse of cakes from more than a dozen bakeries across the city, you might not think to scan resumes for zipline experience. But it’s a good thing that Jen Johnson, one of the Hub’s king cake matchmakers, previously worked as an aerial guide in western North Carolina, leading terrified tourists through treetops looming 80 feet above the forest floor.

Because, closer to sea level, among the scariest so-called fun activities is shopping for king cake.