[[link removed]]

PORTSIDE CULTURE

WHEN DID PEOPLE START EATING SWEETS FOR DESSERT?  
[[link removed]]


 

Timothy Ott
January 16, 2025
historyfacts.com
[[link removed]]


*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ The rise of cafés and tea houses in post-French Revolution Paris
popularized the concept of single-portioned desserts as did France's
powerful influence on culinary customs. _

By the 20th century, the habit of dessert to polish off a meal had
taken root , Bettman via Getty Images

 

Most of us don’t give a whole lot of thought to the habit of
finishing a satisfying meal with a dessert of something sweet —
we’re too busy savoring the delectable mouthfuls of cake, custard,
or ice cream.

Yet this is a clear culinary tradition that many people follow. While
some may elect to eat sweets before a main course, and others simply
dig into pie or brownies at any time of the day, most adhere to the
standard operating procedure of dessert after the main course at lunch
or dinner. But how and when did this order come about? Why do we eat
sweets after a savory meal, and not the other way around?

Humans Evolved To Have a Need for Sweets

To start somewhere close to the beginning, the craving for sweets
is biological
[[link removed]].
Our hominid ancestors realized they derived more energy from ripe
fruit with a higher sugar content than unripe fruit, and humans
evolved with a hardwiring that connected sweetness to pleasurable
feelings.

This primal need perhaps explains why sweets have traditionally
featured into religious ceremonies for many cultures. As described in
Michael Krondl’s _Sweet Invention: A History of Dessert_,
Mesopotamian cooks prepared cakes as an offering to the goddess
Ishtar. Similarly, Hindus throughout India have presented a sugar and
milk concoction known as pedha to deities such as Kali for more than
two millennia.

At times, the ritual of serving sweet dishes at distinct intervals has
translated to something similar to the modern idea of dessert. After a
day of fasting in celebration of Krishna’s birthday, Hindus
traditionally indulge in treats such as bhog kheer, a pudding, or
shrikhand, a sugar-flavored yogurt. In Turkey, the end of fasting at
Ramadan means an opportunity for celebrants to sink their teeth into
baklava, a beloved pastry.  

Of course, the preparation and consumption of sweets has long been a
part of secular mealtimes as well. _The Deipnosophists_, a work from
the third-century Greek writer Athenaeus of Naucratis, describes an
array of honey-coated fare served over a series of lavish banquets.
However, the now-commonplace notion of specifically relegating such
sweeter foods to the end of a meal has its origins in France.

Diners in Medieval France Enjoyed Meal-Ending Sweets 

According to _Sweet Invention_, the term "dessert" appears in French
cookbooks as far back as the 14th century; the French loanword is the
noun form of the verb _desservir_, meaning "to remove what has been
served." In the Late Middle Ages, dessert was distributed after the
dishes of the main meal had been cleared, although these edibles
weren't necessarily of the sweet variety.

The serving that followed dessert and concluded the meal, known as
the _issue_, was more likely to consist of sweet foods such as fruit
or spiced candies. Both the dessert and issue fell under the category
of _entremets_, smaller portions that appeared between or after the
main courses.

For European diners of the Late Middle Ages, it was common to see
dishes of meat and cakes served together as the main course; there was
little attempt to separate these foods of radically different tastes
and textures. This remained the case even after sugar became more
widely available on the continent, and influential Renaissance-era
Italian cooks began showering all varieties of meals with healthy
doses of the valuable commodity.

Desserts Emerged as a Distinct Course in the 17th Century

By the 17th century, there was a growing distinction between sweet and
savory courses among French culinary practitioners, and with it
arrived the modern notion for the proper way to end a meal. Dessert
even earned an entry in the 1690 edition of the _Dictionnaire
Universel_, defined as "the last course placed on the table... Dessert
is composed of fruits, pastry, confectionery, cheese, etc."

Recipe books of the era also devoted increasing quantities of print to
instructions for pastries, jams, and fruit dishes. However, the
preparation of these meal-ending foods fell under a different
jurisdiction than that of the chefs in charge of the main courses.
Desserts were handled by confectioners who worked in the kitchen’s
"office," or pantry.

Although the office initially was considered a subordinate branch of
the kitchen pecking order, its confectioners came to be considered
artisans in their own right thanks to the sculptural desserts served
at the ostentatious dinners of King Louis XIV and other royals.
Dessert as an art form arguably reached its peak in the early 19th
century with the creations of French chef Antonin Carême, who built
massive replications of pyramids, temples, and fountains out of sugar
mixtures.

The French Revolution Led to Modern Dining Customs 

The guidelines for dessert were changing even as Carême was producing
his classically inspired _pièces montées_. The fall of the ruling
class with the French Revolution meant that the chefs who once toiled
in palace kitchens became unemployed. While some were able to find
wealthy benefactors, others spurred the transformation of the public
dining house by launching new eateries around Paris.

These restaurants introduced the concept of service _à la russe_, in
which each customer ordered individual dishes to his or her liking,
delivered one course at a time. Meanwhile, the rise of cafés and tea
houses throughout the city further popularized the concept of
single-portioned desserts.

By the arrival of the 20th century, the habit of dessert to polish off
a meal, whether at home or a restaurant, had taken root in the
country. And given France's powerful influence on culinary customs, it
wasn't long before this sweet finishing touch at mealtime became
standard across the rest of Europe, as well as on the other side of
the Atlantic.

* dessert
[[link removed]]
* culinary traditions
[[link removed]]
* culinary history
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]
Manage subscription
[[link removed]]
Visit portside.org
[[link removed]]

Twitter [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 



########################################################################

[link removed]

To unsubscribe from the xxxxxx list, click the following link:
[link removed]