One thing Granite Rants didn't mention in his post about the 1683 siege of Vienna: One night during the siege, bakers inside the city were working late when they heard strange noises coming from underground. They alerted the Viennese military and discovered that the Turks were secretly tunneling under the walls. The tunnelers were repulsed, and shortly thereafter the seige was lifted and the Turks went home. To celebrate, the bakers created a light fluffy pastry shaped like a crescent (the emblem of the Ottoman flag). Today, Americans call this Austrian pastry by its French name, croissant.
Posted by David at August 27, 2003 03:15 PM | Edit