Life is Yummy … with Desserts

Be it chocolates or cakes, sweets are always a favourite with people of all ages. Sweets have been a weakness with people from primordial days. A fondness for sweets is what endears desserts to the populace. If one looks at it scientifically, one finds that it was probably a fondness for sweets that gave people, in history, the energy and, possibly, saved their lives. Being able to taste sweetness might have helped our ancestors to identify energy rich food, which played a critical part in their survival. This fondness for sweets is what makes desserts an obsession with people. Ashok Malkani examines the love for desserts and analyses the modern concept of them being harmful to your health. He also looks at the trends during the New Year.

- Ashok Malkani

The quintessential day dedicated to lovers (Valentine’s Day) is almost here. Celebrated with roses, chocolates and sweets it is the day that endears you to your sweetheart, when you offer her sweets with the message: Sweets for a sweet!

Sweets are a weakness with several people. When it comes to sweets, the maxim followed by almost everyone is: Never say Never. No wonder desserts are extremely popular with all age groups. No wonder Ernestine Ulmer said “Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first.”

Desserts make you feel relaxed. After all stressed is desserts spelled backwards! No wonder even during the corona virus it is found that people are busy baking sweet dishes. Almost all agree that a meal is incomplete without dessert.

Asif Iqbal, Executive Chef, Holiday Inn Chennai OMR IT Expressway, states, “A meal is never complete without a dessert so, a Chef’s service is never complete without serving it. Most of the guests who are on diet have options in plenty for some sugar free & jaggery based desserts. So, it does become an important part of the meal.”

Anirudh Amin, Chef de Cuisine, Four Seasons Hotel Bengaluru at Embassy ONE, asserts, “Desserts have always been an important part of the meal for guests as well as general public in various cultures. The urge to end the meal with a dessert has been the norm for ages. One also cannot discount the influence of social media in our lives and there is no better example of an instagrammable food item than a dessert. “