Tesco, United Kingdom's largest supermarket chain, announced recently that it will stop selling crescent-shaped croissants and go on with the straight ones. The decision to ban curved croissants spurs debates among top French chefs and bakers who have differing views on which shape is the most authentic.
Fortune reported that Tesco's latest strategic decision was triggered by the decreasing demand for curved croissant. The grocery chain used to sell both straight and crescent-shaped versions of the bakery item, however, a survey conducted by their company revealed that almost 75 percent of their customers prefer buying straight croissants.
Tesco cited the spreadability factor as the main reason why Brits prefer buying the straight-edged version of the baked good. The survey found out that most consumers are having difficulty in spreading butter and jams on curly croissants.
The decision of the world's second largest grocery chain ignited debates among top French chefs and bakers who cannot resolve which shape is the most authentic. Richard Bertinet, owner of Bertinet bakeries in Bath renowned for their French bread and pastries, told The Guardian that a real croissant should be straight.
"In France when I was working as a baker's apprentice, I learned the cheap croissant should be curved and the straight ones were always made with butter. So the parents would have a straight croissant and the kids would have a curved croissant," Bertinet said.
Jean-Christophe Novelli, a chef who runs a cookery school in Hertfordshire, agreed that the authentic ones are the straight-edged version. "From my time as a baker when I was a kid, a straight croissant was only baked on Sunday morning, and that's it."
But Vincent Roussel, a manager of the bistro at London's Institut Français, disagreed that it should be curved. "We use the word croissant for the moon in the first quarter, the first quarter is the croissant shape. For me, [a] croissant should not be like a rectangle, it should be curved," he explained.
Despite clashing on which shape is more authentic, Bertinet, Novelli and Roussel all agreed that Brits are eating croissants the wrong way. "Never in my whole life have I met someone from France who eats a croissant with jam," Novelli stated.
