IF ANY NATION in the world would pick a fight on another country over pastries it would have to be France. And that’s just what happened in 1838 when the French and Mexico descended into a five-month conflict in what went down in history as The Pastry War.
Known as Guerra de los pasteles to the Mexicans or Guerre des Pâtisseries to the French, the war arose as a by-product of an internal power struggle between the Mexican president Manuel Gomez Pedraza and a political rival Lorenzo de Zavala, who at the time was governor of the state of Mexico.
Pre-Heating the Oven
The origins of the little-known dust-up go back to the previous decade, when the president tried to remove Zevala from power, the governor and his political ally, the redoubtable General Antonio López de Santa Anna assumed command of the garrison in Mexico City and overthrew Pedraza. Amid the chaos of the 1828 rebellion, mobs of soldiers looted homes and businesses throughout the city. One of the victims was a French national and pastry shop owner by the name of Remontel.
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