There it sits, in all its flaky glory, with a crust the colour of autumn leaves, and two plump claws almost begging to be torn off and devoured. Light as air and as French as the guillotine.

One impeccable croissant.

But this particular pastry – among dozens crowding a display shelf in an unremarkable looking boulangerie in central Paris – is no ordinary offering. Far from it. For this is a butter-free croissant, a crisp swerve away from more than a century of devout culinary tradition and a nod towards larger forces seeking to reshape French food and agriculture.

Sacrilege has rarely looked so seductive.

“I’m changing the world,” grinned Rodolphe Landemaine, between mouthfuls of a lovingly laminated, butter-free, pain au chocolat.

Landemaine, a baker, now owns five busy boulangeries in Paris, with more on the way in other French cities, all serving entirely dairy-free products to a mostly local clientele.

Not that he advertises the absence of butter, or eggs, or cows’ milk, in his shops. Indeed, the word “vegan” never crosses his lips.

“It’s not an easy word for French people to get used to. It’s very difficult for them to give up on butter and eggs,” he acknowledged, explaining that the idea of veganism is considered too “militant” for many.

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