Steven Kaplan, a professor of European history at Cornell University in New York regarded the world’s leading authority on French bread, accuses les boulangers de France of destroying their proud heritage as they succumb to the global trend for “softer food,” reports the Times of London. Kaplan claims French bakers are cutting cooking time by 60 seconds or more in search of a less crusty crust. “This is a significant and catastrophic trend,” Kaplan tells the paper. “The crust is what stands between France and the Armageddon of soft, mushy, repugnant loaves that we get in the US and you get in Britain, too.”