It was a on a rather slow Friday afternoon in January, sat at the back of one my favourite confectioners in Vienna, the sort of place where, to bastardise a line from Larkin, time stopped sometime between the end of the Chatterley ban and the Beatles' first LP, that the idea for this project first came to me. Two older gentleman were sat at tables either side of me: one, who was tucking into a slice of cocoa-stained Sachertorte accompanied by a small glass bowl overflowing with dreamy whipped cream; the other, patiently yet doggedly attacking a rich, flaky Topfengolatsche with a preposterously tiny fork. Beset as I was quite naturally by jealously and hunger, in this moment it occurred to me not merely how enamoured I am of these sweet treats, but more so, that it is through the glass window of the dessert case that I have come to connect with, understand, and indeed love (even perhaps when I don't like) the city I call home.
Tell a person what you eat and they can tell you who you are. Vienna, I would go so far as to say, is a city defined by its desserts: decadent tortes and creamy gateaux, flaky strudels and crumbly cookies, pillowy doughnuts and buttery pastries. From Apfelstrudel to Vanillekipferl and every sort of Schnitte, Torte, and Beugel in between, each piece, each slice contains within it a secret or story waiting to be told. These are tales of empire and migration, splendour and majesty, decline and darkness. Viewed together, they tell the history of the Austrian capital, the city of Mozart and Beethoven, Klimt and Schiele, Freud and Herzl, Lueger and Hitler, from its magnificent rise and to its tumultuous decline. Perhaps more than any other city, the story of Vienna is the story of the dessert counter and that is what this blog, "Strudel, Sugar and Schlag," sets out to tell in weekly posts, each one a snippet about a dessert that makes up the city's culinary mosaic.
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Cover image. Credit: Mike Steele [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)]
