Tourist’s ‘blasphemous’ approach to eating croissant enrages French

‘I once saw an American do this... my grandmother almost shed a tear,’ responded one Instagram user

Carolin Lauffenberger demonstrates her croissant eating technique (Instagram/@CarolinLauffenberger)

An Instagram influencer shocked followers by posting a video she claimed showed how to eat a croissant “like a Parisian”.

In the video, Carolin Lauffenberger, who is based in Berlin, dips the tip of the pastry into the foam of a cappuccino before eating it, hashtagging the post #howtobeparisian and #parisguru.

The video swiftly garnered 97,623 likes and counting.

But when Parisian blog @ParisSnobiety reposted the video - captioned “How do you eat your croissant?” - Paris fans were divided.

“Please don’t do that,” commented user @_julialiliana_, racking up 126 likes in agreement.

She then followed up to say, “I once saw an American do this at [Paris cafe] Les Deux Magots, my grandmother almost shed a tear.”

“That’s a crime madam,” came another curt reply.

One follower called it “Blasphemy”, while another France-based viewer wrote: “Just tear a piece and then dip it... please.”

Some followers defended Lauffenberger’s approach to the iconic flaky crescents, with one man saying: “For all the ones that think that it isn’t normal, every French person do it [sic], we take pain au chocolat or croissant and we put it in coffee/hot chocolate before eating it.”

Others agreed that the main offence was not tearing off pieces of the pastry before dipping them into the coffee.

So which way is the right way?

A blog post on “The art of the croissant” from the bakery chain Paul claims Carolin’s technique is accurate, saying: “[One] very French habit is to dunk your croissant briefly in your favourite hot drink – we recommend a nice milky coffee – before each bite.”

Meanwhile, when Parisian local Ariana Ionescu was interviewed by Vogue on “how to eat breakfast like a French girl”, she claimed she doesn’t even drink coffee in the mornings and likes her croissants au naturel.

“What I really love is to cut open a little croissant and eat it pur. When you eat a good-quality croissant, it is so good that you don’t even really need jam or anything else with it. In my opinion, using jam is more of a weekend delight,” said Ionescu.