Another first for this blog - quoting holus-bolus from Wiki, rather than the usual plagiarism. Several culinary legends are related to the Battle of Vienna:
It is also said that when the Turks were pushed away from Vienna, the military bands left their instruments on the field of battle and that is how the Holy Roman Empire (and therefore the rest of Western countries) acquired Cymbals, Bass Drums, and Triangles.
One interesting aside is that this info was in a piece on the Battle for Vienna.
* One legend is that the croissant was invented in Vienna, either in 1683 or in an earlier siege in 1529, to celebrate the defeat of the Turkish siege of the city, as a reference to the crescents on the Turkish flags. Although this version is supported by the fact that croissants in French Language are referred to as Viennoiserie and the French popular belief that Vienna born Marie Antoinette introduced the pastry to France in 1770, there is no further evidence that croissants existed before the 19th century.
* Another legend from Vienna has the first bagel as being a gift to King John Sobieski to commemorate the King's victory over the Turks that year. The baked-good was fashioned in the form of a stirrup, to commemorate the victorious charge by the Polish cavalry. The truth of this legend is very uncertain, as there is a reference in 1610 to a similar-sounding bread, which may or may not have been the bagel.
* After the battle, the Austrians discovered many bags of coffee in the abandoned Turkish encampment. Using this captured stock, Franciszek Jerzy Kulczycki opened the third coffeehouse in Europe and the first in Vienna, where, according to legend, Kulczycki himself or Marco d'Aviano, the Capuchin friar and confidant of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor, added milk and honey to sweeten the bitter coffee, thereby inventing cappuccino.
It is also said that when the Turks were pushed away from Vienna, the military bands left their instruments on the field of battle and that is how the Holy Roman Empire (and therefore the rest of Western countries) acquired Cymbals, Bass Drums, and Triangles.
One interesting aside is that this info was in a piece on the Battle for Vienna.
"War ... what is it good for? ... Breakfast goods, apparently" ... no, doesn't have the same ring does it?
ReplyDeleteWhat a mine of information you are, James. Where do you get all your post ideas from?
ReplyDeleteI was told a variant of the croissant theory by a tour guide at the Vatican Museum. Everyone was scared of the Turks and the crescent was a sign of terror, so after their defeat the croissant was developed to make light of this sign of terror. Or something along those lines.
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