Puddings

For some reason this morning, while not thinking about getting up, I was thinking about desserts. Which Larousse told me was something sugary, a pastry or fruit, served at the end of a meal. A word which is derived from the verb desservir, the first meaning of which is to make something ready, perhaps to make a chapel ready for divine worship. And the second meaning of which is to clear away a table at the end of a meal. After which, by implication, it will be ready for the serving of dessert.

Much the same story in Littré.

The word dessert does not seem to figure in 'La Cuisine Familiale', but they do have chapters for cheeses, entremets, pastries, sorbets and compotes. This last being the nearest the French seem to come to the stewed fruit once common in this country. No sign of rice puddings, milk puddings or jellies.

From entremets, I associate to the little nothings that some pretentious restaurants in this country serve between slightly more substantial courses.

From where I move onto the various English words in this department: dessert, pudding, sweet. Sometimes with the qualifier 'course'. The word dessert does not seem to figure in 'Food in England' either, although this work does recognise a very large number of  (steamed or suet) puddings and has a chapter headed 'pies, puddings, pastries and cakes'. There is also the chapter headed 'fruits, herbs, seeds and flowers' which includes more desserts, as does the chapter headed 'eggs'.

Clearly the sort of thing about which one might write a short, tastefully produced book for sale at Christmas or in National Trust gift ships. Perhaps by way of preparation for writing such a work, I should consult my copy of reference 1, presently largely unread.

Reference 1: The Origin of Table Manners - Claude Lévi-Strauss - 1968.