3) Desserts, East vs. West

Last night Eric and I were treated to the a home-cooked meal at my aunt Hyun-Mi's house. We ate our way through a cheese and olive plate, fresh greens coated in tart vinaigrette, hot stone pizza, bubbly and crisp from the oven, and hearty fagioli soup. Just as everyone was insisting that they couldn't eat another bite, the final stage of the meal materialized.

Unexpectedly, dessert became a divisive subject. My uncle James had brought chiffon cakes from the highly regarded J.J Bakery in Arcadia. Velvet-soft and effortlessly airy, the spongy cakes ballooned out of individual cups. My contribution to the evening was two bags of Pepperidge Farm Mint Milanos. To round out the selection, my uncle David (Hyun-Mi's husband) produced a bar of dark chocolate studded with dried raspberries.

While everyone sampled a bit of everything, lines were drawn between people's preferred dessert. And surprisingly, the two sides were racially divided. Hyun-Mi and James, both Asian, said they would choose the chiffon cake over cookies and chocolate any day. The Caucasians at the table, Eric and David, had little interest in the chiffon cake, but made swift business of the Milanos and chocolate.

For the record, I myself am a member of the anything-with-chocolate dessert camp, so it's not to say that race predicts dessert preferences. But for something as universal as dessert (almost every country has the equivalent end to their meals), preferences were proving to be more complex than individual tastes. When you start to examine the types of sweets that originate from different races, distinct flavor trends emerge.

From the East we get sponge cakes, mochi, green tea and red bean ice cream, and Asian pears. Your last visit to a Chinese, Thai or Korean restaurant most likely ended with fortune cookies, perfectly cold and neatly sliced oranges, or sikhye, a rice drink. The understated sweetness is there only to compliment the subtle flavors and an element of freshness. Compare this to desserts of the West: German chocolate cake, tiramisu, eclairs, hot fudge sundaes, and truffles. And how many times have you seen the trifecta of New York cheesecake, creme brulee, and molten chocolate cake on a menu? Western desserts are rich, and oh-so-naughtily decadent.

One possible explanation for the disparate flavor profiles is that desserts are more than just the end of a meal. They also serve a purpose for each culture. Eastern desserts are palette cleansers, a throwback to the origin of the word (desservir from Old French, meaning "to clear away"). In a way, the subtle, understated flavors are a manifestation of Eastern values of modesty, and yin-yang balance. In the same vein, Western desserts can be seen as rewards to fuel a sense of carrot-driven individualism. I did something good today, I deserve a treat. The proverbial cherry on top.