Coming to Mail Box Near You…

Reader Natasha writes:

I just had to mention to you how amusing I find it that one can order an “original” Sacher torte directly from the Sacher Hotel in Vienna, from just about anywhere in the world! And the confection is quite refined and elegant as well. It comes in a nice hand made wooden box.

True enough. You can get a Sacher torte shipped by mail just about anywhere in the world these days. They come not from the hotel, but from one of two central commissaries in Vienna and Salzburg that do nothing but make Sacher tortes 24 hours a day. Sacher tortes can also be had at a few Sacher shops that have been put up in various locations in Austria. There’s also one in Italy.

Surprising as this might seem, it should be noted that mail order tortes have been big business for more than a hundred years, and not just in Vienna. Pastry master Jozsef Dobos, it’s said, created his famous Dobos torte specifically for that purpose. He even designed a special box that would keep his tortes fresh until they reached their destination. That was in the 1880’s. Just more evidence that there’s nothing new under the sun. Except iPhones. Those things are amazingly cool.