“COME TO DESSERT!”

Taranaki Daily News, 20 November 1926, Page 18

“COME TO DESSERT!”

A CHARMING FRENCH CUSTOM (By Doreen Dawson.) Ono of Hie everyday experiences I most enjoy on my periodic visits to France is the delightfully informal invitation from hospitable souls, not always overblessed with this world’s goods: “Come to dessert!” It is issued as naturally as the Englishwoman’s “Come and”nave a cup of tea!” And is

regarded as the same pleasant opportunity for congenial foregatherings-and cosy chat—Sans ceremonie.

“Dessert” in France is indeed very much the same sort of thing as afternoon tea in England, save that coffee takes the place of the universal brew, and the hour is the evening instead of the afternoon. But the fancy cakes are there, and the big cream-filled gateau as piece de resistance; or, in the case of a humbler menage, the. beautifully-baked fruit tart made in the giant-sized “tortiere” that is part of every French household equipment. You have to behold one of those tarts to believe it! Its dimensions shout hospitality as it is borne to the table—great masses of juicy fruit, in a thin case of miraculously light and flaky patisserie. In France, the coffee-drinking is usually preceded, unless funds are very, very short, by a glass of white wine and a biscuit; and when funds are good, it is followed by a liqueur. But bless you, the French folk don’t make a song about it when dessert happens occasionally to fall below their usual standard! There is a smiling reference to the empty cellar and the high cost of living; but who cares when that delicious aroma is rising from the stove where the coffee is brewing, and Madame is busy with a knife and that out-sized fruit tart!

“Come to dessert” is such a simple, genial solution of a dinner problem. It is just a tacitly accepted feature of French economies that the household budget, even in comfortably-well-to-do middle-class homes, won’t always run to elaborate repasts for a number of guests. But they are always welcome to time their casual calls to coincide with the arrival of dessert. The notion is well worth consideration by women whose incomes have to be strictly, apportioned, and for whom space, too, presents its own particular problem. And how often has the girl who puts in a busy day wished that afternoon tea might be a movable feast! Let her •'make it evening coffee instead, and voila! I prophesy that the “pals” she cherishes most will respond with gratifying promptitude to her invitation a la franeaise: “Come tp dessert.”