Sweetness

In a race to become the best nation on Earth, did you ever notice how Japanese people always complain about how sweets from your home country, be it America, England, etc. are just too darn sweet?

This complaint eats at me like a tiny ant nibbling a huge wad of gum. Japanese pride themselves on having healthy cuisine, and they even feel that their sweets are healthier than ours. I am not talking about traditional Japanese desserts (that are really sweet if you ask me, sweet bean paste, sweet jelly etc) I am talking about cakes that were bought in a Japanese cake shop. For Christine's birthday we were devouring a strawberry shortcake bought from the bakery at the end of the road when our Japanese friends went on and on about how this cake was a little sweet but nothing compared to British or American cakes. All the while this conversation was taking place my teeth were aching because the cake was so sweet. This weekend I brought a trifle for dessert to my friends house which included Jell-o pudding. She said it was delicious and then of course threw in 'But it was so sweet!'.

First of all I would like to comment that, of course it is sweet, it is dessert. However our desserts are no sweeter than yours because certain recipes use a certain amount of ingredients to make them taste good. If we added more sugar to an American chocolate cake than a Japanese chocolate cake, it wouldn't taste good. I would also like to add that sugar is a key ingredient in most Japanese dishes, even savory ones. Hello sukiyaki?!?!

I am not sure why Japanese people comment on this. Are they just trying to prove to me that Japanese are healthier, skinnier and in better shape? Or maybe they are just stating the obvious like 'Atsui ne!' every five minutes on a hot day. Maybe eating dessert isn't for everyone. But I will tell you what, when I am eating a piece of cake, a cookie, or pudding, it damn well better be sweet because if it wasn't sweet than it would be salty and I think a salty piece of cake would be minge.