Yes an Austrian brought the croissant to France. But it wasn't Marie-Antoinette. Half a century after her time, an Austrian officer opened a bakery in Paris which became the place to go. The Boulangerie Viennoise introduced Viennese techniques later applied to the baguette, and was known for its Viennese loaves and its kipfel - small rolls in the shape of a crescent. Or, as the French say, croissant. August Zang didn't stay long - having brought "viennoiserie" to France, he went back to Vienna to found the newspaper Die Presse, and with it, the modern Austrian daily press. -- This work discusses the history of the kipfel, why two common tales about the croissant are myths, how the Boulangerie was started and its influence on French baking, and August Zang's subsequent career. This second edition includes a closer look at the rue de Richelieu in the nineteenth century and at Viennese baked goods in general, an expanded analysis of Zang's innovations and influence, a glance at the changes in bakery decor and revised overviews of the baguette and the changes in the croissant, as well as additional mentions of Zang in the American press.
Autorentext
Jim Chevallier is a food historian who has been cited in "The New Yorker", "The Smithsonian" and the French newspapers "Liberation" and "Le Figaro", among other publications. CHOICE has named his "A History of the Food of Paris: From Roast Mammoth to Steak Frites" an Outstanding Academic Title for 2019. His most recent work is "Before the Baguette: The History of French Bread".
He began food history with an essay on breakfast in 18th century France (in Wagner and Hassan's "Consuming Culture in the Long Nineteenth Century") in addition to researching and translating several historical works of his own.
He has been both a performer and a researcher, having worked as a radio announcer (WCAS, WBUR and WBZ-FM), acted (on NBC's "Passions", and numerous smaller projects). It was as an actor that he began to write monologues for use by others, resulting in his first collection, "The Monologue Bin". This has been followed by several others over the years.