| A "Dessert" is a meal course that usually comes | | | | In today's culture dessert recipes [ have become |
| after dinner. Most often Dessert foods are of | | | | a popular item for discussion, as they are a |
| sweet food but can also be of a strongly flavored | | | | winning way to win people over at the end of |
| food, such as cheese, like cheese cake. The world | | | | any meal. This is partly because if you serve a |
| dessert comes from the Old French word | | | | mediocre meal, with an excellent dessert, people |
| "desservir", which means 'to clear the table'. Often | | | | will remember you for the dessert and forget |
| times in the English language dessert is confused | | | | about the meal. |
| with the word desert(note only one "s"), which is | | | | Most cultures, have a seperate final distinction |
| a baren peice of land normally with sand as soil. | | | | between the main course, and the sweet course. |
| It wasn't until after the 19th-century where the | | | | This is not true however in some cultures such as |
| rise of the middle class, and the mechanization of | | | | Chinese, who will mix in sweet and savoury dishes |
| the sugar industry, brought the privilege of | | | | throughout the entire meal. Dessert is, often |
| sweets into the general public and unreserved it | | | | times seen as a separate meal or snack, rather |
| exclusively for the aristocracy, or as rare holiday | | | | than a course, and can be eaten some time after |
| treat. This was because sugar became cheaper | | | | the meal by many individuals. Because of it's wide |
| and more readily available to the general public. As | | | | spread popularity there are even some |
| sugar was widely spread, so was the | | | | restaurants that specialize in desserts. |
| development and popularity of desserts. | | | | |