A Bicycle Race Inspired a French Pastry
August Six Word Photo Story Challenge: “Food”
This French dessert celebrates ultradistance cycling.
Among 6,000 cyclists worldwide, I trained hard to prepare for the Paris-Brest-Paris (PBP) bicycle ride. The qualifying rides were grueling. But they were nothing compared to riding PBP, a 1,200-kilometer (746-mile) ride from Paris to Brest and back. Worse still, the ultradistance ride’s time limit is 90 hours.
Finishing PBP on time requires riding around the clock, sleeping little, and consuming vast quantities of food. While I enjoy a nutritious and balanced diet on and off the bike, a treat now and then is harmless. Enter the Paris-Brest French pastry, my preferred pre-PBP dessert.
Pierre Giffard originated the PBP professional bike race in 1891. In 1910, he commissioned pâtissier Louis Durand to create a wheel-shaped pastry. Bakers make the dessert’s shell of choux pastry. Then, they fill it with praline-flavored cream and cover it with flaked almonds. Dubbed the Paris-Brest, PBP cyclists made it famous. It is now baked in pâtisseries all around France.
In the early 1900s, PBP was comparable to the Tour de France bicycle race. But by the 1940s, only amateurs could ride in PBP.
The Paris-Brest-Paris ride and the Paris-Brest pastry may not be household names outside of France. But like the Tour de France, they have stood the test of time.
Thank you to publisher Mary Chang Story Writer and editors Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles, and Sandi Parsons for hosting the Six Word Photo Story Challenge publication. Along with writers and readers, they make our world a little bit better.
