Don't Let Them Eat Cake....

Where's the dessert? I, aged 6, asked my mother sotto voce when we went for Sunday lunch at Uncle Sid and Aunty Lyn's. I was shushed as it became apparent that every sinew had been strained in producing a main course. The pudding had proved a step too far for the recalcitrant cook. Too well- trained to make a fuss, over fifty years later, I can still remember the sense of disappointment. What sort of meal did not end with a dessert?

In primary school they were referred to as puddings. It was there I experienced treacle tart, steamed ginger sponge, Spotted Dick ( a sponge containing currants), and Dead Man's Leg (A length of flesh- coloured suet with a seam of jam running down the middle). All of which were served with a steaming ladleful of custard, vanilla or chocolate flavoured, from a huge bucket-like vessel. Joyous times and clean plates always. Even rice pudding or semolina, served with a blob of raspberry jam in the middle, would be devoured, but not before some creative souls had spun the raspberry so that the pudding resembled a pink melange. Happy, healthy, calorific times without any hint of remonstration or censure.

According to our hallowed Health Minister, Jeremy Hunt, last week, eating out is no longer a treat.. (he needs to speak to my husband, obviously). It has become the norm for most families, it seems. He is intent on getting restaurants to reduce their pudding size and sugar content. This is his way of reducing obesity. Obesity which is such a complex issue and begs so many pertinent social questions is hardly likely to be solved by this feeble plan. Why doesn't he go the whole hog and ban puddings altogether? As any junior doctor will tell you, it is yet another ill-formed, half-baked plan with a very soggy bottom.
If I leave any pudding behind, it will be my choice, and not as the result of a government directive.

Of course, if they gave out Green Shield stamps as an incentive, I could be persuaded to leave a little more behind: for a little less behind, so to speak.
   
    Here's one I didn't make earlier