The Jihad Against European Food Names Continues

Mmmmm...Thanks Mo! Hope they didn't use lard...

A new front has opened up in the cartoon culture conflict. This latest troubling, yet delicious, development has once again been brought to us by some innovative Iranians. Iranians apparently love their cakes (Iranian mange-cakes?), and danish pastries in particular seem to be very popular. Either out of fear of losing their business, or out of righteous indignation bakers all over Tehran have resorted to covering up the Danish origins of the yummy pastry. On Thursday, the 'confectioners union' (a.k.a. the lollipop guild) announced that all danish pastries were to be renamed as the Roses of the Prophet Muhammad. Of course this move parallels measures taken all over the US (including the the congress cafeteria) to rename French fries and toast quite literally in the name of freedom. I have to say, this is pretty ridiculous, but it's actually pretty saavy marketing to Muslim consumers- maybe they can even 'find' some pro-pastry hadith to further boost sales :)

So danish isn't just delicious but also sacred now...maybe this isn't such a bad thing. It would be entertaining to see Mullahs breaking their Ramadan fast with a big filling-oozing Rose of the Prophet Muhammad. Even better, the spread of the pastry consumption might just help those stern and abstemious Mullahs ease up a bit- after all it's kind of difficult to sustain an apoplectic level of rage after tickling your sweet tooth.