The month is almost over and I have yet to acknowledge The Pastry War, which ended in March of 1838. I try to mark this — the world’s most famous pastry-related conflict — every year as it’s instructive of the kind of violence that can occur when unruly pastry shop customers fail to give the artisans and staff that serve them the respect they deserve.
Fought between Mexico and (of course) France, The Pastry War was provoked when Mexican soldiers (officers mostly) ransacked the pastry shop of one Monsieur Remontel in the Tacubaya district of Mexico City in 1837. Remontel sued for damages and when he was denied satisfaction took his complaint directly to King Louis-Philippe of France. The French King demanded the sum of 600,000 pesos as compensation, which was a lot in its day, and when Mexico refused, he sent a flotilla of ships to blockade all the Mexican ports along the Atlantic coast. This is how seriously the French take their pastry.
When the Mexican government still refused to pay, the French bombarded the fort of San Juan de Ulúa, and in early 1838 seized the port city of Veracruz. Mexican general Antonio López de Santa Anna was called out of retirement to defend the city, but was hit in the leg by grapeshot (not a garnish, but the real thing) and severely wounded. The leg had to be amputated (Santa Anna later had it buried with full military honors), but the notoriety and sympathy Santa Anna received propelled him to the presidency for the fifth time in his career.
Was the whole thing really just about pastry? Well, the Mexican government did happen to owe the French millions in unrepaid loans at the time, which undoubtedly served as added incentive (Mexico shortly paid up via a British-backed note). However one should never underestimate the lengths the French government is willing to go to defend the rights of its pâtissiers, even on foreign soil. Careful out there, folks!