National Croissant Day

Croissants originated in Vienna, Austria, but can be found all over the world. Their precursor was the kipferl, a crescent-shaped roll made with lots of butter and lard. They date back to the thirteenth century when they were eaten as sweets.

Croissants are said to have been invented in Buda, the ancient capital of Hungary that is now part of Budapest. Legend says croissants were first made there to celebrate the victory of the Franks over the Umayyads at the Battle of Tours.

Croissants were made to celebrate the victory of Christian forces over the Ottoman Empire in 1683. Some believe this moment marked the start of the kipferl, not the croissant. It is mentioned in a poem from 1227, as a treat that Viennese bakers brought to Duke Leopold.

A third legend says that Marie Antoinette, the Austrian princess who married French king Louis XVI, loved kipferls and introduced them to the high society of France, calling them croissants. This story says that bakers went on to perfect them, giving us the croissants of today.

The first real evidence of croissants as we know them today can be attributed to August Zang, who opened a pastry shop called Boulangerie Viennoise in Paris, in 1838, the first Viennese bakery in the city. In it he had many treats and baked goods from Vienna, including kipferl. Around 1850, he began making them with puffed pastry, a flakier dough than what was used in other sweets. People began calling them croissants because they were shaped like crescents. Afterward, croissants were sold in other Viennese bakeries in France, and in the more affluent areas of Paris. Within a few decades, croissants became a staple breakfast food in France. 

Sylvain Claudius Goy wrote a croissant recipe in 1915, on which modern recipes are based. Croissants were mainly made by French bakers throughout the first half of the century. After World War II their presence spread all over the world.

On National Croissant Day, croissants are celebrated all over the world. France, the United States, Austria, Poland, Argentina, and Poland are some of the countries with distinctive croissant traditions. There are more recent variations, such as pretzels and Cronuts, available in New York City.