# When did you first hear of croissants? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 6, 2011, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-hear-of-croissants/588064 "2011-07-06T17:50:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-hear-of-croissants/588064/1 "2011-07-06T17:50:29Z")
And when did you first have one, and where were you living at the time? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-hear-of-croissants/588064/2 "2011-07-06T17:54:18Z")
I don’t remember _not_ knowing of croissants. I might as well be answering this about toast, or doughnuts. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-hear-of-croissants/588064/3 "2011-07-06T17:56:41Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I don’t remember _not_ knowing of croissants. I might as well be answering this about toast, or doughnuts. Did you know about them before 1970? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-hear-of-croissants/588064/4 "2011-07-06T18:01:06Z")
Although I’d heard of “crescent rolls” before this, I first learned of French _croissants_ and how they were properly made by a grad stuent in geophysics I was working under in 1975, who described precisely what they were and how they were made. He gave me the address of a french bakery in Back Bay Boston, where I went and got some. They were utterly wonderful. I guarantee that Dunkin Donuts does not make them correctly, and I;m not sure who does. I’d love to find some real croissants again. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-hear-of-croissants/588064/5 "2011-07-06T18:02:39Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Did you know about them before 1970? Well seeing as how I was BORN in 1970… Probably not. I remember my Mom talking about getting them for breakfast in Manhattan in the late 1970s, maybe 1977-78. The first time I remember having them was made in our oven with the stuff from a Pillsbury canister. I think they were new at the time, I remember the commercials on TV went on a bit about them being newly trendy in some way. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-hear-of-croissants/588064/6 "2011-07-06T18:13:14Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Did you know about them before 1970? Beats me, I was 8 at the time. What’s the significance of 1970? ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-hear-of-croissants/588064/7 "2011-07-06T18:14:19Z")
When Burger King came out with the Croissanwich, I think. I was 5 at the time, living in Huntington, WV. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-hear-of-croissants/588064/8 "2011-07-06T18:16:45Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Did you know about them before 1970? I can state definitively that I did not. ---
**Author:** ![Azeotrope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/0ea827/32.png) [@Azeotrope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azeotrope)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-hear-of-croissants/588064/9 "2011-07-06T18:20:43Z")
I was grade school age. My mother brought some from a bakery and I wouldn’t eat them because they didn’t taste like Crescent Rolls. I’ve since learned the error of my ways. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-hear-of-croissants/588064/10 "2011-07-06T18:21:23Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Beats me, I was 8 at the time. What’s the significance of 1970? None, really, although I saw an episode of The French Chef where Julia made them. I got the impression that they were really strange and foreign back then. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-hear-of-croissants/588064/11 "2011-07-06T18:23:22Z")
Just to be clear, I’m not talking about Pillsbury crescent rolls from a can, but real French bakery croissants. > [@CalMeacham](#): > > He gave me the address of a french bakery in Back Bay Boston, where I went and got some. Was it Au Bon Pain? Perhaps in the Prudential Center? ---
**Author:** ![Stormcrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/0ea827/32.png) [@Stormcrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stormcrow)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-hear-of-croissants/588064/12 "2011-07-06T18:29:52Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Although I’d heard of “crescent rolls” before this, I first learned of French _croissants_ and how they were properly made by a grad stuent in geophysics I was working under in 1975, who described precisely what they were and how they were made. He gave me the address of a french bakery in Back Bay Boston, where I went and got some. They were utterly wonderful. I guarantee that Dunkin Donuts does not make them correctly, and I;m not sure who does. I’d love to find some real croissants again. I’d bet most large cities in the US have a couple of place that really do them right. As for me, I probably learned of them when I was eight, in 1974. That was when we moved to Paris… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-hear-of-croissants/588064/13 "2011-07-06T18:35:58Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > None, really, although I saw an episode of The French Chef where Julia made them. I got the impression that they were really strange and foreign back then. Maybe not so foreign in Canada: French influence and all that. Not trying to be snarky. I just seem to always remember having croissants around. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-hear-of-croissants/588064/14 "2011-07-06T18:40:02Z")
Burger King’s Croissanwich I’m pretty sure. I believe I would have called a croissant a “crescent roll” prior to this. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-hear-of-croissants/588064/15 "2011-07-06T18:48:13Z")
> [@fiddlesticks](#): > > Burger King’s Croissanwich I’m pretty sure. I believe I would have called a croissant a “crescent roll” prior to this. Do you know what year that was? I’m looking for years here, not answers like “My whole life” or “At the best party I ever went to.” What I’m trying to construct is a timeline of when they went from almost unknown to pretty ubiquitous in the US. But when they got popular in places like Canada is pretty cool to know, too. For me it was around 1982-83 at the aformentioned Au Bon Pain. At the time I’d heard of crescent rolls, but not croissants. They were completely new to me, and that restaurant was the only place I knew of to get them. Dunkin’ Donuts certainly didn’t have them back then. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-hear-of-croissants/588064/16 "2011-07-06T18:53:25Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > And when did you first have one, and where were you living at the time? Probably late 1970s, as a kid. Western, NY According to Wikipedia, the Croissan’wich at BK came in in 1983. [Burger King breakfast sandwiches - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croissan%27Wich) ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-hear-of-croissants/588064/17 "2011-07-06T19:07:03Z")
Brought up on them. Born '67, they’ve never not been around. UK. They have, however, got a lot better and more like the French version. Seriously, if you’ve never had fresh croissants from a French boulangerie, you really have never tasted what they’re meant to be like. Simply divine. ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-hear-of-croissants/588064/18 "2011-07-06T19:45:14Z")
Okay so based on the additional clarifications: Born in '67, Canadian and I’ve never not known about them. When I was little I didn’t like sweets, my favorite thing to get from the bakery was a cheese croissont. ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-hear-of-croissants/588064/19 "2011-07-06T19:48:30Z")
In 1968, when we moved from the US to Paris, France. I was 7 then. My favorite after school snack was a _petit pain au chocolat_, which is essentially a croissant with a heavenly chunk of dark chocolate in the middle. Served warm, so the chocolate is just barely melty… Mmmmmmm! And those are real flaky, buttery, lights as air croissants, not “crescent rolls” (shudder). ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-hear-of-croissants/588064/20 "2011-07-06T19:51:37Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Seriously, if you’ve never had fresh croissants from a French boulangerie, you really have never tasted what they’re meant to be like. Simply divine. And how. Also there’s nothing quite like taking a fresh baguette, still warm from the oven, and breaking off the end to gnaw on. It’s even better if you happen to have some really good soft cheese handy 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-first-hear-of-croissants/588064.md?page=2)