Simple, Sophisticated Desserts

Appears in
Cooking One on One
Cooking One on One

By John Ash

Published 2004

  • About

According to nature writer Michael Pollan, a taste for sweetness is a fundamental human desire, the basis, in all likelihood, for all other desires. Fruit is a universal food, eaten by all peoples in all times; honey is eaten wherever there are bees. We may not need dessert to live, but we need it to be happy. All over the world, dessert is an expression of and occasion for indulgence and celebration.

Getting that sweetness at the end of the meal makes sense. Unlike salty foods, which tend to pique the appetite, sweet foods tend to shut it down.