Dessert Day

What the day is

Dessert Day is observed on October 14. It covers the whole category: cake, pie, pudding, ice cream, fruit, cheese, and whatever else arrives after the plates are cleared.

Origin and background

The origin of the observance is not documented. The word comes from the French desservir, to clear the table, which describes exactly when it happens rather than what it is.

The sweet course as a distinct, final part of a meal is more recent than it feels. In medieval and early modern European cooking, sweet and savory dishes were served together across the whole meal, and sugar was used as a spice in meat dishes. Sugar was also extremely expensive, an imported luxury, and displaying it was a sign of wealth.

Two things changed that. Sugar became cheap through Caribbean plantation agriculture worked by enslaved people, which is the uncomfortable economic foundation of European dessert culture. And in the nineteenth century, service a la russe replaced the older practice of putting everything on the table at once, bringing courses out in sequence, which is what fixed the sweet course at the end.

The common claim that dessert comes last for digestive reasons has little behind it. The sequence is a cultural convention, and plenty of cuisines do not follow it: fresh fruit rather than confection is the standard end to a meal across much of the world.

How to take part

• Make something simple rather than ambitious. A good crumble beats a mediocre gateau.
• Serve fruit if the meal was heavy. It is the traditional ending in most of the world for good reason.
• Get the temperature right: most cakes and pies are better slightly warm, most creams and ice creams need a few minutes out of the refrigerator.
• Add acid or salt against sweetness. Lemon, sour cream, creme fraiche and flaky salt all make a dessert taste less flat.
• Eat it with other people. Dessert is the course most often shared and least often eaten in a hurry.