World’s Oldest Pretzel Found in Bavaria

Some eighteenth-century baked goods that were apparently thrown away because they were burnt have been discovered in eastern Bavaria. The remains of a pretzel, a roll, and a croissant, all dating to some 250 years ago, were found at a site where the remains of a wooden house thought to be 1,200 years old have also been unearthed. “This discovery is really extraordinary, because it depicts a snippet of everyday life,” Joachim Wolbergs, mayor of Regensburg, told The Local. Pretzels were first made in monasteries during the Middle Ages, and originally their form was intended to represent the crossed arms of a monk. The pretzel's simple recipe, water and flour, meant it could be eaten during Lent, when Christians were forbidden to eat dairy products or eggs. Pretzels are now often eaten in southern Germany for breakfast with white sausage and sweet mustard. For more on archaeology and the culinary arts, see "The Gladiator Diet."