Trivia-Mongering

Okay, I admit it, I love trivia. Especially trivia associated with the origins of phrases and words.

I also love Croissants, too. Quite some time ago, I ran across a tale about the origins of the croissant and I think it's a great story. It seems that in 1686, Austria and Turkey were at war and one of the central issues was the ruler-ship of Hungary. Austria had "liberated" Budapest from Turkish occupation and the Turks were anxious to retake it. In 17th century warfare, occupying the major cities was how you won a war. So the Turks set about tunneling underneath the city as a way of getting inside and surprising the Austrian troops.

As has been typical for centuries and is true today, bakers were hard at work in the early, early hours, preparing their goods so they would be fresh for their customer's breakfasts. While working on their baked goods, some of the bakers heard the Turks tunneling underneath their city and raised the alarm. The Austrian army quickly responded and repelled the Turkish invaders. The Turkish army's inability to retake Budapest was a key element in the Austrian victory in the war. To celebrate their victory, the Budapest bakers created pastries in the shape of the crescent found on the Turkish flag. And thus the croissant was born. Or so the story goes.

Variations on the theme: I have also seen this story related as happening at the siege of Vienna in 1683, with Austrian bakers supplanting the Hungarian bakers. I've also seen variations in which the bakers were ordered to bake the crescent-shaped pastries by the king or the general so the victors could desecrate the symbol of their opponents by eating it.

Whichever variation is true, or even if none are, it's still a cool story.