Jonathan Taylor writes:
I suppose there’s great reason to think R.O. Blechman is being purposely playful with the phrase “most likely true,” but I’m still irked to see two most likely untrue food-history fancies, about the invention of the croissant and the bagel to commemorate battles against the Ottomans, reamplified in the Times today. Food historians have long doubted the croissant’s connection to the siege of Vienna, noting that known references to it emerged only centuries later. And the Forward recently noted, “Contrary to legend, the bagel was not created (in the shape of a stirrup) to commemorate the victory of Poland’s King Jan Sobieski over the Ottoman Turks in 1683. It was born much earlier in Krakow, Poland, as a competitor to the obwarzanek, a lean bread made of wheat flour and designed for Lent. In the 16th century and first half of the 17th, a ‘golden age for Poland’s Jews,’ the bajgiel became a staple in the national diet.”
Thank you.