The 2023 winners

The enjoyment of sweet pastries - artfully shaped and delicately flavored by Viennese pastry chefs - used to be reserved only for the highest social classes; for most people, the culinary experience was confined to holidays. Surprisingly, the tradition of Christmas baking is not that old, even if it dates back to pagan times in another form. It was not until the sugar beet and the availability of exotic spices that Christmas baking made its way onto the tables of the bourgeoisie and onto the Christmas tree. Only few people know where the very first Christmas tree was put up in Vienna - where, to this day, it still stands...