Pope's Wine or Angel Cakes? 🪽

Welcome to Secret Breakfast / The best place to start your day with books and roses, micro-gastronomy, dinners with dictators and weird pontifical snacks

Hi there!

Happy Diada de Sant Jordi, my favorite celebration, the one I never celebrate because it is something from Catalonia, and I'm in Italy.

On this day, traditionally, men gave women a rose, and women gave men a book. Then, I suppose women started reading more than men—and patriarchy settled for Lamborghinis, Andrew Tate, and a mixture of illiteracy and football games at the local pub. Women, you reckon, went on to rule the world.

Nevertheless, Sant Jordi comes with the Pa de Sant Jordi (★recipe), a - forgettable - striped bread like Catalonia's Flag.

What else? Oh, yes, Pope Francis left us, and Italian media are all about him. Even football skipped a beat this time.

Well, enjoy the rest of the week!

✹Pope Francis (1936-2025) on Gluttony - General Audience, January 10th 2024 (video). Here, Bergoglio explains the reason why Jesus abolishes the distinction between pure and impure foods, which was a distinction made by Jewish law. Christians believe that it is not what enters a person that contaminates them, but what comes out of their heart.

Bless Your Plate

In Robert Harris's novel Conclave, the author imagines that during the voting to elect the new pontiff, the food served to the cardinals progressively worsens as days pass. A narrative device to increase pressure on the cardinals and push them toward a quick decision.

In reality, this practice doesn't exist: the food that will be served during the incoming Conclave is simple but dignified, and is not used as a tool for gastronomic persuasion.

The relationship between the papacy and food cannot be overlooked: after all, we're talking about a religion that celebrates a meal at every mass!

The Eucharist, the central moment of Catholic liturgy, commemorates Jesus's Last Supper with his apostles. Bread and wine are transformed, according to Catholic doctrine, into the body and blood of Christ.

This symbolic connection between spirituality and nourishment deeply permeates Catholicism. And pontiffs have had curious relationships with food.

John Paul II showed a real weakness for kremówki, cream pastries typical of his native Poland. After his visit to Wadowice, his hometown, these desserts received the nickname "papal kremówki" (★recipe) and became a gastronomic symbol of devotion to the Polish pope.

Leo XIII, at 93 years old, followed a rather peculiar medical prescription: he regularly drank Vin Mariani, a wine treated with coca leaves (containing traces of cocaine), recommended by his doctor as an invigorating tonic.

Julius II went down in history as the first pope to taste turkey in Europe, received as a gift from the Americas at the beginning of the 16th century.

On the fiction front, it's impossible not to mention the 2019 film The Two Popes, where Anthony Hopkins as Pope Benedict XVI and Jonathan Pryce as Cardinal Bergoglio (the future Pope Francis) share a pizza while discussing the future of the Church.

Don't forget Paolo Sorrentino's The Young Pope: Jude Law as Pius XIII shows a true obsession with Cherry Coke Zero, a drink he requests as his first official act of his pontificate. A curious coincidence with reality, considering that Benedict XVI was known for his preference for Fanta, a beverage he regularly requested during his apostolic journeys.

QELEG | silicone-mold on Instagram: ”🍫🍪Vanilla Marble Cookies-layers of vanilla and chocolate 🛒♥️Baking Mold: Tap the link in my bio to get it please, use discount code: qeleg save 20% Butter 150g Icing Sugar 150g Egg Liquid 50g Vanilla Extract 2g Sea Salt 2g PART 2. Vanilla Dough Cake Flour 150g PART 3. Chocolate Dough Cake Flour 130g Cocoa Powder 20g Steps: 1 Add powdered sugar to the softened butter and mix until well combined.Then gradually add the egg mixture and whisk until smooth. 2 Add vanilla extract and salt mix well. Divide the dough into two equal portions. 3 Vanilla dough preparation: add cake flour to the dough and mix until well combined 4 Chocolate dough preparation: Add cake flour and cocoa powder to the other half of the dough and mix until well combined. 5 Place the dough into the molds one by one, cover with parchment paper, press the tops flat, and freeze for 3 hours. 6 After unmolding, cut into 3-4mm thin slices. Dip the surface in granulated sugar and place them on a baking tray. Bake in a preheated oven at 170°C (338°F)(top and bottom heat) with convection mode for about 15 minutes. #MarbleCookies #HandmadeBaking #DeliciousMoments #DessertLovers #VanillaChocolate #bakingtime #bakersfield #bakers #cookiestamp#Sablé #cookies #cookiesofinstagram #cookiedecorating #recipe#bakingtime#qelegcookies#qelegcake#satisfying #snack #baking #foodphotography#foodphotographyandstyling #foodgasm #tasty #desser #LoveCelebration #BeautifulMoments #baking”

9,302 likes, 44 comments - qeleg_cake on April 2, 2025: ”🍫🍪Vanilla Marble Cookies-layers of vanilla and chocolate 🛒♥️Baking Mold: Tap the link in my bio to get it please, use discount code: qeleg save 20% Butter 150g Icing Sugar 150g Egg Liquid 50g Vanilla Extract 2g Sea Salt 2g PART 2. Vanilla Dough Cake Flour 150g PART 3. Chocolate Dough Cake Flour 130g Cocoa Powder 20g Steps: 1 Add powdered sugar to the softened butter and mix until well combined.Then gradually add the egg mixture and whisk until smooth. 2 Add vanilla extract and salt mix well. Divide the dough into two equal portions. 3 Vanilla dough preparation: add cake flour to the dough and mix until well combined 4 Chocolate dough preparation: Add cake flour and cocoa powder to the other half of the dough and mix until well combined. 5 Place the dough into the molds one by one, cover with parchment paper, press the tops flat, and freeze for 3 hours. 6 After unmolding, cut into 3-4mm thin slices. Dip the surface in granulated sugar and place them on a baking tray. Bake in a preheated oven at 170°C (338°F)(top and bottom heat) with convection mode for about 15 minutes. #MarbleCookies #HandmadeBaking #DeliciousMoments #DessertLovers #VanillaChocolate #bakingtime #bakersfield #bakers #cookiestamp#Sablé #cookies #cookiesofinstagram #cookiedecorating #recipe#bakingtime#qelegcookies#qelegcake#satisfying #snack #baking #foodphotography#foodphotographyandstyling #foodgasm #tasty #desser #LoveCelebration #BeautifulMoments #baking”.

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