Every day thousands of people make fun without knowing about an empire when they have breakfast. THE RESPONSIBLE: THE COUPASAN

If something has demonstrated over the centuries, gastronomy is that kitchens serve more than elaborate tasty dishes. In the heat of their stoves they usually curdle culinary traditions, legends and mythslike the one that explains that every time we have breakfast a crucisan we are actually participating in a war. Because? Because with that seemingly innocent gesture we make fun of the defeat of one of the empires more influential of history.

We explain ourselves.

Cruasanos and wars? Yes. The relationship may sound a bit strange, but it comes with Google to find dozens of Blogsforums, magazines and Diaries that tell the same story: how the cross was created to commemorate the defeat of the Ottoman in Vienna at the end of the 17th century. To be more precise, the frustrated siege of the city by the great vizier Kara Mustafa which resulted in Kahlenberg battle and marked the beginning of the Ottoman decline in Europe.

A great victory, a great cake to celebrate it.

An epic story. There are war deeds that inspire poems, songs, operas, movies, paintings, novels; But … a cake? Why commemorate the siege of a city with a bun that thousands of people have breakfast throughout the world? The answer is quite simple: The legend He says that the Viennese pastries played a key role in the Ottoman defeat of 1683, so the guild wanted to celebrate it as best knew, kneading and baking mass.

Of plots and noctámbulos. The story is of course worthy of the great romantic chronicles. Desperate to take Vienna, around 1683 the Ottomans began to think about ways to mock the fortification of the city. Some versions They say they decided to do so by excavating an underground gallery. Others, which set out to open tunnels to Place mines. In any case, the legend tells that, to dodge the vigilance of the Viennese, the Ottomans worked at night, among Quinqués and the moonlight, while their enemies slept.

What the Muslims did not tell is that not all the residents of Vienna got into bed at night. There was a guild who worked every day from the sunset to dawn and ended up listening to the noise that the soldiers made with their peaks and shovels, which allowed him to alert the authorities and repel the enemy attack. What noctámbulos guild was that? Correct: The bakers.

And the ‘Larousse’ of 1938 arrived. That this romantic dyes has reached us is explained for two reasons: centuries of oral tradition and the pen of the French chef Posper Montagnéwho in 1938 published an iconic work of universal cuisine, the ‘Larousse Gastronomique’. In addition to explaining how the crossings are elaborated, in its pages the scholar recounts the origin of the cake, echoing a version similar to the Viennese legend of the seventeenth century.

In the work (at least in which it can Consult online) Montagné tells a similar story, although he places the plot during The Buddha site In 1686, not in the siege of Vienna of 1683. “The Turks besieged the city and to reach their hearts they excavated underground galleries. Some bakers, who worked at night, heard the noise made by the Turks and gave the alarm,” He recounts.

But … why is it a mockery? Simple. Because when creating their new commemorative cake the Viennese pastries noticed A symbol From Islam: The growing moon. It is also explained by Montágne’s encyclopedia: “To reward the bakers who had saved the city, they were given the privilege of making a special cake that, in memory of the emblem that decorated the Ottoman flag, had to be shaped like a crescent,” duck The gastronomic encyclopedia.

In summary: the new cake served to celebrate the Christian resistance and endurance of the city … and incidentally mocked the Ottoman forces. As Collect National Geographicwhen a Vienne devour one of those tasty cakes that emulated a moon really “ate the Turks.”

The story was curious. The story, powerful. And for more inri it appeared ratified in a work of the prestige of the ‘Larousse Gastronomique’. So what was expected to be expected: the myth extended, gained strength and made the crosss become more than simple pastry. In their own way, they became a symbol.

But is it true? The million dollar question. If gastronomy is good (in addition to satisfying palates), it is to create Myths and traditions of rigor more than questionable. Italian cuisine, Spanish either Japanese (To name only three examples) leave a few examples. And the Viennese legend of the Cruasan seems to be only that: a legend of truthfulness at least difficult to check.

With you, the Kipferl. The story tells that the city’s bosoms elaborated two commemorative breads of the victory: the Kaiseremmela kind of “imperial panecillo”; and Kipferlwith a crescent -shaped. That this is the origin of what we understand today is however more than questionable, Remember From the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE).

“He Kipferla baked panecillo from a dough of wheat with yeast, is common in central Europe, ” Clarifies the institution in his blog, in which he remembers that there are records that suggest that he Kipferl He ate already in the thirteenth century. Moreover, there are those who believe that their origins are older and more sweet in a similar way they can be seen in Magreb (Tchareke) or Türkiye itself, where the Ay çöreği.

History and stories. “It’s almost certain that these stories are false,” assures Austrian chef Jürgen David. In fact they can be found Other stories that also relate the invention of the Capuchino with the Ottoman siege of Vienna.

The popular Dunkin breakfast chain It echoes On its website for the legend that maintains that the famous coffee, with its characteristic color (similar to the habit of the Capuchin friars) it was first served in Vienna after its citizens found the sacks of coffee that the Ottoman had left behind. If true, the breakfast with which thousands of Europeans start their mornings would have a common origin. A suspicious coincidence.

The French win. The most curious thing is that in the end it does not matter much what is the real origin of the crossings or if they connect with a more or less old culinary tradition. For the vast majority of people today (and for a long time) the cross is a French creation. And in a way it is true. Towards the XIX the Kipferl He made his way in France, where they knew how to make it his own. There is A legend which attributes his triumphant to María Antonieta. Other versions ensure that the merit is from an Austrian officer, August Zangwho in 1839 founded a Viennese bakery in Paris.

What is undeniable is that this cake with horns (or crescent shape) liked. A lot. And that a early twentieth century Sylvain Claudius Goy registered the first authentically French version, with its characteristic laminated yeast mass. “Cruasán began as Kipferl Austrian, but became French at the time people began to prepare it in puff pastry, which is a French innovation, ” Write to Smithsonian Magazine Jim Chevallier, author of a book on the history of Cruasán.

Images | Wikipedia 1, 2 and 3, Larissa Megale (UNSPLASH) and Nakul

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