However, the dish was taken from somewhere else even though it was advertised as “traditionally” Czech.
Bijan Sabet, the recently appointed U.S. ambassador to the Czech Republic, posted some of his first ambassadorial images to Instagram in February 2023. In addition to a picture of him holding an ice cream-topped trdelník, a common tube-shaped pastry, the now-deleted post featured a few images of cobblestone streets close to the US Embassy in Prague.
The Czech press jumped on the trdelník shot the following day. It was headlined “The first mistake of the new American ambassador” in the daily Mlada Fronta Dnes. Lidove Noviny, another Czech daily, included it in the range of political scandals in the United States by it.
What exactly was the commotion about, and how did a pastry lead to a global political scandal?
If you join the horde of tourists in Prague’s historic center, you’ll notice that every third or fourth store has a sign that reads “Old Czech Specialty” above it. This is especially noticeable between Old Town Square and Charles Bridge. The tubes of dough are 15 cm (6 in) long and slowly rotate horizontally on a stick over burning charcoal. There is always a line out the door at each of these stores, which smell like baked dough and caramelized sugar.
