Simple Pleasures: Napoleon and Memory

Mille-feuille—French for “a thousand leaves”—is the classic
layered pastry more commonly known as a Napoleon

Growing up, my maternal grandparents always served a Napoleon (mille-feuille) for dessert. In recent years, the pastry seems to have fallen out of favor, which made it all the more surprising to see one served after dinner the other night. I loved it as a child, so the sight of it felt like a welcome return from another era.

The dessert also brought back a childhood memory. When I was very young, the neighborhood kids and I used to tease each other constantly, and because of the similarity to my last name, they would jokingly call me “Napoleon.” Looking back, I doubt it had anything to do with the “Little Corporal.” Still, perhaps the association helped shape my later dislike for the Corsican upstart and his imperial ambitions—well before my traditionalist and legitimist inclinations had fully taken form.

~ By Giovanni Di Napoli, June 7th, Feast of Sant'Antonio Maria Gianelli