Golden, rich, flaky, and the traditional complement to a continental breakfast, the croissant is the iconic French pastry. The “madeleine de Proust” for anyone who has visited France, its taste and smell will unexpectedly unlock past recollections of past trips! Through its many evolutions, food specialists, historians and gastronomes agree that it has now become a uniquely French pastry. Hadn’t the French government already named it the “national French product” in 1920? Come and learn more about this quintessential French food - and taste and compare plain, chocolate and almond samples - with Bastien Ornano of J’aime French Bakery and Wendy Smith Born and pastry chef Melissa Martin of Metropolitan Bakery.
About our speakers:
Our moderator, Aliza Green, is an American chef and writer. In addition to being one of the first female chefs in Philadelphia, she is known as a pioneer of the farm-to-table movement. She is the author of more than a dozen books about food and organizes international culinary tours. She is also a member, and frequent speaker, at Penn’s Village.
After moving from Paris to Philly to pursue his dream (and his dream girl - he got married here, and the French-American couple welcomed baby Maëlle in January 2023), Bastien Ornano opened J’aime French Bakery with two locations offering traditional French baked goods like croissants, tarts, quiches, and crêpes. Following French tradition, everything is baked fresh daily in the glass-enclosed kitchen, starting when the doors open at 7 a.m. Bastien left his IT consulting position in France to enroll at the exclusive Lenôtre Pastry School where he graduated with honors. J’aime (I love in French) is Bastien’s dream, and he makes every pastry with love!
Wendy Smith Born and Chef James Barrett decided in 1993 to open what has now become a fixture of Philly’s booming culinary scene—Metropolitan Bakery. Metropolitan breads are baked in over 30 varieties by Melissa Martin and others at their 10,000-foot Fishtown bakery and delivered to four neighborhood shops and to more than 90 top Philadelphia restaurants and markets. Wendy was managing partner of the White Dog Café (hired by executive chef Aliza Green) and developed Metropolitan by drawing on her experience and her work with the hunger relief organization Share Our Strength. Metropolitan works to combat hunger and poverty by donating bread to shelters, employing and training recent parolees; and mentoring at-risk high school students.
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