Are you ready for the black forest gateauA rich cake containing layers of cream or fruit.: an enormous chocolate cake filled with cherries and cream? Or perhaps you fancy a blancmange: a smooth, wobbling mound of cream and sugar?

To the delight of some and the horror of others, 1970s-style desserts are back in. Gone are plates of sliced fruit. According to reporting by The New York Times, America's hippest restaurants have embraced gut-busting puddings, from jiggling jellies to Baked AlaskaA cake topped with ice cream and caramelized meringue..

It is part of a wider uptickAn increase or rise. in sweet treats. As many people face inflation and financial difficulty, sugary snacks have become more popular.¹ As business reporter Alex Bitter writes: "Consumers are turning to comfort snacks as they look for affordable luxuries in an uncertain economy." 

Pastry chef Maggie Scales began serving a gateau after lockdown. She wanted to "offer her customers solaceComfort in times of sadness or worry. in the form of a nostalgic sweet." Diners rebelled when she tried to remove it.

There is a physiologicalRelating to the way in which the body functions. benefit to cakes in lean times. The sugar provides a quick energy boost. Fat helps us store energy for the future, when food might be scarce. It also helps us keep warm: useful when energy bills soar.

It can help us through sickness. Some VictorianThe era when Queen Victoria was on the British throne, from 1837 to 1901.  doctors prescribed summer pudding to patients. As the Ancient Greek doctor Hippocrates said: "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food."

There are also psychological benefits. Food brings comfort and happiness. In his epic masterpiece In Search of Lost Time, Marcel ProustA French novelist who lived from 1871 to 1922.  famously describes eating a madeleineA small, sweet butter cake. dunked in tea. This simple sponge cake brings Proust's narrator an "all-powerful joy."

Humans are at their strongest when they are together. Food has an extraordinary power to bring communities together.² Families and friends unite for culinaryConnected with cooking or kitchens. rituals, whether cajun BBQs in the BayouA flat, wet area of land near the coast in the southern US. or sadyaA traditional Kerala meal served on a banana leaf. in KeralaA state in southern India.. The most sacred Catholic ritual involves wine and a wafer.

Desserts are no different. Germans meet to chat over KaffeeCoffee in German. und KuchenGerman for cake.,³ while Turkish hosts present baklavaA rich Greek and Middle Eastern dessert made of thin, flaky layers of pastry filled with chopped nuts, butter, and cinnamon and soaked in a honey or sugar syrup. and lokum A fragrant jelly candy recipe native to Turkey, otherwise known as Turkish Delight. to their guests. Pudding offers a universal language. But it also serves to mark out a particular community.

Some even claim that desserts and the rituals they create stand at the heart of human society. Politicians come and go. Countries rise and fall. Regions are ravagedSeverely damaged; devastated. by war. But desserts stick around.

The British have eaten Christmas puddings since at least the 16th Century.⁴ King Henry V served mince pie at his coronation in 1413.⁵ When we bite into one ourselves, we connect ourselves to millions who have enjoyed the same experience before us.

Others warn against over-egging the pudding. Eating is essential for our survival. But sweet treats are a luxury in a world where as many as 828 million people suffer from hunger.

Desserts might make us feel better temporarily. But they are a distraction that takes our mind away from the issues that really matter. Baking and consuming takes up time we could use on more intellectually stimulating tasks.

Yes: Ice cream has existed for around five thousand years, far longer than any one civilisation or political system. Our love for such sweet treats has hugely impacted how our societies developed.

No: A pudding is enjoyed by a few people for a short time. Political decisions can permanently affect millions. When the history books are written, puddings will not even merit a footnote.

Or... Neither is more important. Politics affects food: Ukrainians and Russians argue over who owns borscht. And food inspires politics, as when Marie Antoinette told her starving subjects to eat cake.